Ben 10: Bride To Be: Volume One
by WebofSpideyguy7245698
Summary: When Ben and Gwen's parents go on a trip, they are left together to get to know each other better over the summer. What will happen when Ben ends up developing a crush on Gwen? Will Gwen be able to accept her cousin's romantic feelings for her? AU Ben 10. Also Bwen. Rated M for future lemons. If you don't like Bwen, than don't read.
1. Chapter 1: Trip To Vegas

Ben 10: Bride To Be

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to Ben 10: Bride To Be! Or whatever this story comes to be known as in the future. I have created this story to sort of "promote" my other Ben 10 story, called Ben 10: The Doofus and His Dweeb. So, if you like Ben 10 and if you like Bwen, you should check it out! Said story is also going to get a sequel sometime in the near future. But, we're moving on now. This story takes place in a AU version of the Ben 10 T.V. show. It's mainly the original show and definitely not the God awful reboot. There may be references to Alien Force, Ultimate Alien and Omniverse, but I really haven't decided yet. So anyway, I'm just going to say that Ben first gets the Omnitrix when he is sixteen in this version. Since most of the story will mostly be from his point of view, so the rest of the story will be explained from his point of view. This story is a Bwen btw and is probably the reason why you decided to check this story out. And if you don't like Bwen, then I would highly suggest that you leave _right now!_ Anyway, I hope you enjoy and with that said, let's get this show on the road!

Chapter 1: Trip To Vegas

 _Ben_

Hi. My name is Benjamin Tennyson. But you can just call me Ben! Everyone does when I really think about it. Well, the only time I'm called Benjamin, is by my mother. And that is just when I'm in trouble! This is the story of uh, well, how... Look, this may make a lot more sense if I just start from the beginning. It was the first day of summer vacation and it was looking good for a change. I had just gotten done with my Junior year of high school and I was currently seventeen. I had discovered a watch of somekind in the woods, six months prior to the start of my summer vacation. That was in November and now it's May. This watch that I found while I took a walk in the woods, can unleash a special energy to turn me into ten different aliens, I think they are. My favorite one is a alien I called "Diamondhead". Ever since I found the watch, I have been using it for good. Sneaking out every chance I could find to stop crimes in the city.

Right now, I was just sitting on the couch in the living room. I was watching TV, when my mom dropped the ball on me. "Ben?" she asked, as she walked into the room. "Yes, mom?" I asked. "Your dad and I have an announcement to make." she said. I looked up at her. "What? Am I going to have a little brother or sister anytime soon?" I asked. My mom's eyes widened. "What? No! No." she said. "Then, what's the announcement?" I asked. My mom took a breath before speaking slowly. "We are taking a two week trip to Las Vegas." she said. _Vegas? Cool!_ I smiled. "Cool!" I said. "No, no, no. I said _we're_ going to Las Vegas." my mom said. "I know. For two weeks, right?" I asked. My mother nodded. "Yes. But you misunderstand." she said. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You're father and I are going. Along with your Aunt Natalie and Uncle Frank." she said. "But, I'm going too. Right?" I asked. My mom smiled a sad smile, before shaking her head. "No, Ben. Besides, you're only seventeen. You can't drink legally yet and you can't gamble yet. What are you going to even do in Las Vegas if you go?" she asked. "What does it matter? This is _sooooo_ not fair!" I exclaimed.

"It is perfectly fair. We've been planning this trip for months. And besides, you couldn't go anyway. We've already made plans for you." she said. "What? Are you sending me to summer camp?" I asked. My mom shook her head. "Benjamin, you haven't gone to a summer camp since you were twelve." she said. "Fine. Are you sending me to summer school?" I asked. My mom shook her head once again. "Summer school enrollment was weeks ago." she said. "Than what am I doing?" I asked in a irrated tone. "You're going to hang out here with Gwen." she said. _Gwen? Who's- Wait, as in my cousin?_ "Gwen? As in my cousin?" I asked. She nodded. "What other Gwens do you know?" she asked. I shrugged. "Mom, I haven't seen Gwen since I was ten." I said. "Exactly!" she said. "Since we and her parents are going to Las Vegas, we thought you two could have the entire two weeks to catch up and get to know each other better!" I sighed. "Of course." I said in a glum tone. "Ben? What's wrong?" she asked. "Nothing." I said, as I got up from the couch. "I'll be downstairs in the game room." I said, as I left the living room before my mom could say anything. I walked into the hallway in the kitchen that led to the basement stairs.

If you are wondering how my parents haven't noticed the alien watch yet, well, it has it's own camoflauge feature. No, it won't turn invisible, but it would be cool if it could do that. What it does instead, is it takes the shape of a water-proof wrist watch. So, it literally hides in plain sight. I can also remove it in this form, which is weird, since I can't remove it when it's in it's true form. I walked into the game room and turned on the lights. My dad had a government job, so we were kinda wealthy, but we still lived in the suburbs. Just so you can get an idea of what kind of stuff we have in the game room, well, there is a lot. We have a hockey table (it's not air hockey, but well, you can't really complain), we also have a pool table, a dart board on the wall, a flat screen T.V. and two gaming systems. Well, we technically have three, with one of them in my room. I have my old game system down here that I play old Sumo Slammer games on and I have an Xbox 360, which I play first person shooters on, such as Halo, Call of Duty and Battlefield. We also have a mini science lab down in the basement. I began to display an interest in science once I got the alien watch. Believe it or not, it seems to have increased my intelligence, so that's why I have the lab in the next room over and it helped me pick up my grades. You can't beat that!

 _Forty Minutes Later..._

"Hey, Doofus!" I heard Gwen's voice behind me. I paused my game of Halo: Combat Evolved to turn to look at her. "Hey, Dweeb." I said, in a glum tone as I turned to face her. Once I saw her, my heart skipped a few beats. She was stunningly beautiful. She had her red hair pulled back into a ponytail, she was wearing a simple blue T-Shirt, jeans and black Nike shoes. She started to give me a weird look. "Are you okay, Doofus? You're looking at me weird." she said. I shook my head a little bit. "I'm fine." I said. "I just, I'm kind of in a bad mood." Gwen walked over and jumped onto the couch next to me. "Really? What's wrong?" she asked. "My parents and your parents are going to Vegas. And I'm not going." I said, in a glum tone. "So? I was looking forward to being here all month!" she exclaimed. "Glad to see you are enjoying it." I said. "You'll enjoy it too!" Gwen said. "I doubt it." I said. "No, really! We can order a pizza tonight," she said, as she began to count on her fingers. "we can catch a few movies, we can watch TV, we can go to the new water park that just opened, The Riptide Rapids Zone, we could go up the middle school for open swim, we can play some Sumo Slammers, we could do lot's of stuff!" She threw up her hands to show me how excited she was, I guess.

"Hmm." I said, as I unpaused my game. "Halo: Combat Evolved?" she asked. _Wait. She knows what I'm playing?_ "Yeah..." I said, as I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "Is this the 2nd level, Halo?" she asked. I nodded. "Where are you at?" she asked. "I uh, just met up with Sgt. Johnson at the first structure." I said. "Cool." she said. Now what she said next, completely and utterly threw me off guard. "Can I play?" she asked. I dropped the controller, which was bad, because I was being shot at by an Elite. Imagine the sound of a record suddenly skipping. That's the sound that came to my mind when she asked this. "I'm sorry?" I asked, as I turned to look at her and I reached to pick up my controller. "I asked if I could play. So can I?" she asked. "Do you know _how_ to play?" I asked. "Are you kidding? I love Halo!" she said. _Wow, didn't see that coming._ "Sure. You can play." I said, as I got up to grab a spare black controller. I handed it to her and she took it. "Do you want to play the co-op campaign?" I asked. "Mmmm... Can we play split screen multiplayer?" she asked. "Um, sure. I don't mind." I said. I paused the game and saved and quit.

A couple minutes later, she had set up her profile. Her character (a Master Chief clone), had cyan colored armor and her name was just Gwen, keeping it nice and simple. My character, was just solid green colored (because part of the alien watch was green and because Diamondhead was somewhat green) and named Benjamin10. It used to be just "Ben", but when I got the alien watch, I began to name all of my profiles on my games "Benjamin10", due to the ten alien forms I had. "So, what map do you want to play?" I asked. "My brother, Ken and I usually play on Sidewinder. What's your favorite map?" she asked. Now that I thought of it, I knew her brother played Halo. In fact, every other weekend, Ken, my friends J.T and Cash and I would all gather down here to play four player split screen free-for-all. "Blood Gulch." I said. "Mmm. Since it's just us two, why don't we just play on Battle Creek?" she asked. "Okay." I said as I shrugged. We set up the game, which was going to be fifty points and no time limit. "I'm not going easy on you." I said. "Good. Don't." Gwen said. "Fine. I won't." I said. "Tell you what. If you win, I'll pay for the pizza tonight. If _I_ win, _you'll_ pay for the pizza." Gwen said. I smirked. "Better get out your wallet." I said. As the map loaded, I couldn't help but say the map's description. "Splash, splash." I said. "Bang, bang." Gwen said. _Damn._ "Dang Gwen, you know your stuff." I said. She just laughed. _I was starting to get the feeling it was going to be a fun two weeks..._

 _One Hour Later..._

Welp, to make a long story short, Gwen kicked my ass. The score was so: Gwen - 50, Benjamin10 - 27. I did fairly decent, but it wasn't enough. We had to stop halfway through the game to say good-bye to our parents. They told us to have fun these two weeks and I actually believed that I would have fun. Once they left, we both took bathroom breaks, grabbed a few sodas and went back downstairs to finish the game. I put down my controller on the coffee table in frusteration. "Better get out your wallet!" Gwen teased. "Hey, it wasn't my fault that I lost! I didn't know that you wanted to play when you got here!" I exclaimed. She just giggled. "You know what? Since I feel bad about kicking your butt so much, I'll pay for half of the pizza tonight." she said. "You don't have to. You won fair and square. I should pay for the pizza." I said. "But I _want_ to." she said. "I didn't say no." I said. She got up off of the couch and stretched. As she did, she looked around the room. "You certainly have a lot of stuff down here." she said.

"And you are welcome to use it anytime." I said. "Thanks. That's so nice of you, Ben." she said. I shrugged. "It's just who I am." I said. "I'm surprised that we're getting along." I said. "Why? What makes you say that?" she asked, as she turned to face me. "When we were ten, the last time you ever slept over, we got into a fight. I said some things, you said some things. Well, you mainly said that you never wanted to see me again." I said. "And you thought I meant it? It was seven years ago, Ben! We were ten! We probably didn't even know what we were saying. One of the reasons I was so excited to come over here for two weeks was because I was hoping to reignite the spark in our friendship." I smiled. "Yeah... We did have some good times here back in the day." I said, as I became giddy with memories. _We used to play Super Mario Bros. upstairs on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Or SNES for short. Good times. Unfortunately, we moved the SNES up to the attic after Gwen stopped coming here. I was too traumatized from our fight to even touch the controller, because it reminded me so much of Gwen. And I haven't seen it ever since. The one thing that never changed here, was Gwen's room, in hopes that one day, she would come back. Yes, she came here soooo much, that she has her own room. I mean, she was here almost every weekend since the age of six!_

 _And we took turns on a regular basis, with me going over there and she coming here. I doubt that my room at her house even still exists._ "We didn't even have most of this cool stuff down here back then." I said. "I'm sorry." Gwen looked at me. "You don't have to apologize. Neither of us meant what we said that day. I don't have to say sorry either." she said. "Hormones." I said, as I sighed. "We were growing up. And we pretty much have." She smiled and eventually laughed. "Speaking of growing up," she said, as she walked over to me, pulled up my sleeve and grabbed my bicep. "where did these guns come from?!" I couldn't help but laugh as well. "Gwen, you'd be surprised what happens in seven years." I said, as she let go. _Or six months. Yes, that's right. Since I found the alien watch, my muscles have grown significantly. I almost had a six pack!_

 _It's not like the watch did all of it by itself, though. It did make me stronger, but I had to do most of the work myself. Ken, Cash, J.T. and I had our own private hangout not far from our houses. It was ours and only ours. I could make it there on my bike in under ten minutes, it was that close. My dad paid for the electricity, so it was rightfully mine. Since getting the watch, I had renovated half of it into my own person gym. Complete with weights, a barbell and bench, a elliptical and a thing to do pull-ups on. Dad paid for the equipment. When he learned that I was serious about working out, that turned out to be my Christmas present. That and the science stuff for my lab. I can't tell you how expensive that shit was. It was practically my only Christmas present from them._ "You want to go upstairs and watch T.V. or something? Play a board game?" I asked. "Sure!" Gwen said. She went upstairs and while she did that, I turned off the Xbox, T.V. and on my way out, the lights.

 _Three Hours Later..._

We watched T.V. and played Battleship until it was time to order the pizza. Once the pizza came, I let her pick the movie, since I had picked the T.V. show. She ended up picking Finding Nemo. _Leave it to my cousin to pick a hit movie and a hit first-person shooter game. Go figure, if she weren't my cousin, I'd consider dating her. Whoa... forget I said that. Still... she is hot! Fuck! Forget I said that, too!_ We stayed up till about ten thirty or eleven. Once Finding Nemo was over, we put the left over pizza in the fridge and said our good nights. She went to her room and I went to mine. I locked the door and undressed except for my boxers and socks. I went over to my dresser and pulled out a white undershirt, and put it on. I only locked the door, because I didn't want to risk Gwen walking in on me. Not that I jacked a lot, but I was hoping her understanding of privacy was as good as mine was. I tapped the time change buttong on my wrist watch, which would switch it to the alien watch setting. I figured since I was the only one in here, I could sleep with it on it's original setting. Besides, I always slept with it like that, as an emergency. I flicked off the light and got into bed. As I began to drift off, I couldn't help but think: _Something tells me this is going to be the best two weeks ever!_

A/N: Well? Love it? Hate it? I really hoped you enjoyed this first chapter! if you did, I implore you to favorite and follow it. If you want to let me know how I'm doing, than please, PM me or submit a review. Also, please don't forget to check out Ben 10: The Doofus and His Dweeb, as it's another good story that I've written! I wasn't exactly sure if Halo or all of the other fps games existed in the Ben 10 universe. So, I decided why not! Besides this is fanfiction _and_ an alternate version of Ben 10. The fictional water park that Gwen mentioned was a reference to the Riptide Rapids Zone water slide, that Ben snuck into as Greymatter from the episode _A Small Problem_ , from the original series. The fact that Gwen loves Halo like Ben does, well in season 3 of the original series, they played and eventually were sucked into a Sumo Slammers game. I thought I'd expand on this, by making Gwen a full-on gamer, just like Ben! Halo is also one of my favorite game series, so I decided to squeeze it into the story. If you have questions about anything else, again, you can always review or PM me. With that being said, I hoped you enjoyed! I'm going to go though, so have a good day and bye!


	2. Chapter 2: Obsessed

Chapter 2: Obsessed

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello, and welcome to the second chapter! Since posting this story last night, I've went ahead and added two other characters that will play important parts in this story. I've added Zs'Skayr (Ghostfreak) and VIlgax. Vilgax isn't going to be playing that big of a role in this story like he did in my other Bwen story, but he will be appearing near the end of the story. If you were to look at it from a video game point of view, I suppose you could say that Vilgax is the final boss. So, just some background info for this chapter, Ben is going to learn something about Gwen, that could risk the survival of his secret identity. So, with that being said, I hope you enjoy the second chapter!

 _Ben_

I woke up to my alarm going off. I got out of bed and shut off the alarm. "Six a.m." I said, as I let out a yawn. I flicked on the light and went over to my dresser, opened one of the drawers, grabbed a pair of basketball shorts and put them on. I went over to my bookshelf and lifted up one of the books that I had on the shelf, _Herman Melville's Moby Dick._ I hid the key to the lab underneath that book. I grabbed it and slipped it into my pocket. I walked over to the door and silently opened it. I didn't see Gwen out on the sofa, so I silently snuck out of my room and closed my door. I walked down the hall, into the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I flipped on the light. I walked over to the door of the lab and unlocked it. I walked in, while turning on the light. "Okay, let's get down to business." I said, as I sat down in a chair, at one of the tables I had down there and placed the key on the table. I pricked my thumb and put a drop or two of blood on one of the glass slides. I dapped my thumb with a tissue to dry the blood and tossed it in the trash can next to the table. I looked through the microscope.

Once I saw it, I let out a sigh of disappointment. I grabbed the tape recorder next to me, brought it up to face level and hit the recording button. "May 19th, six a.m. I have once again checked a sample of my blood that I have just taken. This alien watch is changing me _still_. I don't know what it's doing to me. All I can see, is that my Red Blood Cells are slowly turning green it looks like. Is it possible that this watch is slowly converting my DNA to match that of an alien's?" I asked. "I'm going to place this blood sample into cold storage with the others, to preserve them over long periods of time." I grabbed the slide and walked it over to the storage locker, opened it and placed it in. I closed it once again and walked over to a file cabinet that I had down here as well. "I have made my own files based on what all ten of these aliens can do." I continued the recording. I opened the file cabinet and grabbed all ten of the files, which were all very thin. "The most noteable aliens I have, or I guess my favorite alien forms, I'll go over them first. The first alien I'll go over _again_ , is my personal favorite, Diamondhead." I said, as I opened his file. Unfortunately, I didn't have any pictures of the aliens. _I mean, pictures would be hard to come across._ "Diamondhead can fire diamond shards as projectiles, he can extend both of his hands into pointy knives and stabbing weapons, he can slam his fists into the ground, forming shield-like material. He is also impervious to damage. At least as far as gunfire goes, he is immune to it." I said, as I read the list that I had written down.

"Next up, is Heatblast." I said, as I pulled his file. "He is composed of charcoal material, with fire or molten lava underneath. Also has a hot head, literally. Impervious to damage as well, can shoot fire balls, he can also absorb fire, which does not seem to increase his power. However, he becomes vulnerable to damage for a short time when he becomes wet." I pulled Fourarms' file, an alien, who obviously had four arms. "Four arms is a red furry alien, at least I think he has fur. He has enhanced strength, but since he is big, he isn't the greatest choice for a chase, or even a race." I said. "Now, my least favorite alien, Ghostfreak." I said, pulling out his folder and opening it. "Can turn invisible, impervious to damage in this state, can extend his fingers practically into talons." I said. "But he's my least favorite alien for a reason. I mean, when I'm in all of my alien forms, I feel like I'm me, but I also feel like I'm somebody else. This feeling is stronger when I use Ghostfreak. And that's the main reason why I try to use him as little as possible. It's as if he's alive within the alien watch, waiting to e-" I was about to finish talking, when I heard Gwen's voice. "Ben? Are you down there?" she called from upstairs.

"Shit!" I hissed. "Recording done!" I shut off the tape recorder and quickly placed it on the table. I dropped the folders and papers on the floor as I ran. I frankly didn't care. I just couldn't allow Gwen to uncover my identity. As I ran, I tapped a button on the watch and it swiched back to wrist watch mode. I grabbed the key on the way out, shut off the lights and exited the lab. I closed the door behind me and locked it. "Yeah! I'm down here!" I called, as I slipped the key in my pocket. "What are you doing down here?" she asked, as she walked into the game room. "Were you talking to someone? I could of sworn I heard you talking down here." _I have to think of something to throw her off my scent and fast!_ "Are you fully awake, Gwen? Are you sure that you didn't just imagine it?" I asked. Gwen shrugged. "I guess. I am still tired. It is possible." she said. "What are you doing up so early?" I shrugged. "I don't know. I always get up at six. Get an early start on the day!" I said. "I was planning on making eggs, bacon and pancakes for breakfest. Are you good with that?" Gwen asked.

My eyes widened. "I was just going to have cereal, but yeah! I would love that!" I exclaimed. She laughed a little bit. "Okay." she said. "I'll go upstairs and start cooking. You can just stay down here and do whatever. I'll call you when breakfest is ready!" She turned around and walked back up the stairs. Once she was gone, I let out a sigh of relief. "That was _way_ too close!" I said. "A few more seconds, and I would of had to kiss my secret identity good-bye!" I let out a breath of fresh air and walked over to the couch and sat down. I turned on the T.V. and turned on my Xbox. I grabbed my controller and turned it on. Five minutes later, I had picked up where I had left off yesterday on Halo: Combat Evolved, on the level Halo. I was loaded back in, just as Master Chief had walked into the first valley with a structure, just before the cave part of the level. I was playing away, and everthing around me was a blur. In no time it seemed, an hour had passed.

 _One Hour Later..._

I had finished Halo and moved on to Truth and Reconciliation. On that level, as ashamed as I am to say it, I died at least three times. Two times were by accident and the last time was on purpose. The first time, a Grunt had stuck me with a Plasma Grenade. The second time, a Hunter blasted me to hell with a Fuel Rod Cannon. And the third time, which again, was on purpose, I was sick of being shot at. So, I just jumped off of the floor of the Covenant Ship I was on and fell to my death. I had just started The Silent Cartographer, when I was called. "Ben! Breakfest is ready!" Gwen called from upstairs. "Alright! I'll be right up!" I said, as I paused the game. I got up from the couch and walked towards the stairs. I walked up the stairs and into the kitchen. The food smelled great! She had even made my eggs scrambled, just the way I liked them! "How did you know I like my eggs scrambled?" I asked. "Um, lucky guess?" she asked. "Anyway sit down and eat!" I sat down at the table and she sat across from me. We ate in silence for a while, until she spoke. "So, what have you been doing with your life?" she asked. "Just trying to survive school, I guess you could say." I said. "What about you?" I asked.

"Well, right now I am jobless." Gwen said. "But sometimes I get money from being a freelance photographer." _Photography? That's cool._ "Really? That's cool! What do you take pictures of?" I asked. "Can I tell you later?" she asked. I could have sworn that there was a hint of nervousness in Gwen's voice. "Sure... I don't mind." I said, trying not to sound desperate for answers. While I finished off my eggs, I saw Gwen eyeing my hand. My alien watch hand. I snuck a glance at my wrist and was relieved to see that the alien watch was in wrist watch mode. I let out a sigh of relief and I began to eat my bacon. "That's a neat watch." Gwen said. "Thanks. It's water-proof." I said, as I continued to eat my bacon. "Where'd you get it?" she asked. "For my birthday. In December." I said. "I know when your birthday is, Doofus. It's my birthday too!" she said. "Happy seventeenth by the way." I smiled. "Happy seventeenth to you too, cousin." I said. _Hey... I forgot that Gwen and I had the same birthday! That means that if we were a couple, on our birthday we could do the... Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where in the holy hell did that come from? Are you demented? You can't just fall in love with your cousin! That's like, what the fuck!_

"Are you okay?" she asked. I looked up at her, as I shook myself back to my senses. "I'm fine." I said, after I came back to reality. "I'm just fine." I began to eat my pancakes. I looked back at Gwen, while she ate. _Even with a bed-head hairdo, she still looked fine as hell. She was strikingly beautiful! I can't stop thinking about it! If she weren't my cousin, I'd- Whoa! Let's put a pin in that buddy! No need to even think about what you would do! That is sick and wrong! And you know it! You are a sick person!_ I shook my head again and finished off my pancakes. I got up with my plate and walked over to the sink. I washed off my plate and put it in the dish washer. I walked up behind Gwen and spoke. "That was a really good breakfest, Gwen." I said, before I kissed her on the cheek. "Ew, Doofus! Don't kiss my cheek! You probably just gave me cooties!" she said.I laughed, as I patted her back. "Gwen, I think only girls have cooties. But seriously, great cooking. You may even be a better cook than my mom! Look, I'm going to go get in the shower and then we'll do something. I don't know what." I said, as I walked out of the kitchen. "Okay, I'll see you in a while!" Gwen said, as I walked towards the bathroom.

I walked in, turned on the light and shut the door. As I turned on the water and took off my clothes, I began to go into thought. _This whole being a "hero" gig is cooler than I thought it would be. Being a hero and stopping crimes really make me feel worth something! However, the crimes seemed to be going down. That should be good, but new gangs are starting to move into the city, getting into gun fights on our very streets. My Ex-Girlfriend, Kai Green, won't even talk to me. When we had broken up, I told her we could always be friends. "No, I think it would be best if we never spoke to each other ever again.", she had said. And on top of all that, there haven't been any big villains in over two months, not since the terrorist known as Doctor Animo, threatened to detonate a nuclear bomb in Downtown Bellwood, claiming it would de-evolutionize everyone within a fifty mile radius. So, with all of this in the past and nothing happening now, I think I am obligated to feel like the sky is going to fall or something._

 _Two Hours Later..._

I was downstairs in the game room, playing Halo: Combat Evolved, while Gwen sat beside me, just watching. She would laugh at my occasional grenade fails. It surprised me that she hadn't asked to play yet. I was currently on the level 343 Guilty Spark, when she finally broke the silence. "Do you want to know about what I do for freelance photography?" Gwen asked. "Sure," I said, as I fought through Flood infested hallways. "What do you do?" Gwen sighed. "Ben, I could tell you what I do. But I think it would be better if I _show_ you." she replied. "Show me? You brought your pictures here?" I asked. She nodded. "I'll be right back." she said, as she got up from the couch. "But, wait-" I began to speak, but it was no use. She was already heading to the stairs, not showing any signs of stopping. So, I just paused the game and whipped out my phone to check to see if my folks had called or texted me. That was a no. I turned off my phone, laid it down on the table and got up from the couch. I walked over to the dart board on the wall and began to pull the darts off.

I backed up and began to throw them at the board. _Bullseye. Bullseye. Bullseye. Bullseye. And, Bul- Wait, I missed?! I never miss! What could have happened that would throw me off so bad?! That's just a bunch of shit right there!_ I sighed and paced the room, waiting for Gwen to return. After an additional minute or so, she came back down the stairs, carrying three shoe boxes. "So..." I said. "You take pictures of shoes?" She snorted. "Be quiet, Doofus." she said. She walked over to the side of the couch and sat down, placing all three boxes on the floor. I sat down across from her, with my back against the couch. She pushed one of the boxes over to me. "Um..." Was all I could muster. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the box and opened it herself. My eyes widened in shock. _Oh my lord. You didn't. Please tell me you didn't..._ What I saw inside of the shoe box both frightened and shocked me. I reached out to grab one of the pictures, my hand shaking violently as I did it. I flipped the picture over and saw a date had been written on it. _March 10th._ I flipped the picture back over and looked at it in shock. It was a picture of Diamondhead.

 _Five Minutes Later..._

We had sat there in silence for about five minutes. I guess that neither of us wanted to break the silence. Well, I was too shocked to even speak. "How...? Why...? What...?" I asked, finally breaking the silence. Gwen grinned. "He's _sooooo_ cool, isn't he?" she asked. I nodded. It was the only thing I could do. "Um, sure." I said. "But, why the alien guy, of all people?" I asked. "He's not a person!" Gwen exclaimed. "He's an alien! He's a shapeshifter!" she said. "How do you know?" I asked. Gwen took a picture out from one of the two boxes she had in front of her. She showed it to me. It was a picture of XLR8. "It's XLR8. So, what?" I asked. "Who?" she asked, with a look of confusion on her face. _Shit. Maybe I shouldn't have said that..._ "It's just what I call him. I know about them, or _him_ , Gwen. I have names for all of them. Or all of his forms." I said. "That one in your hand? That's XLR8. Because he runs really fast. Faster than any human. Probably faster than Usian Bolt." Gwen nodded. "Makes sense. Oh, and I know that they are all one and the same, because of the hourglass symbol they all have." She said. She pointed at the one in my hand."What about him?" She asked.

I laid Diamondhead's picture down, next to XLR8's. "He's Diamondhead. Because his 'skin' looks like it's made out of diamond." I said. "Why not Crystalhead? Crystalface? Crystalskin?" Gwen asked. I glared at her. "Shut up." I said, trying not to make it sound like I was defending myself. "He's _Diamondhead._ " I gritted my teeth as I said his name. "Ben? Why are you defending his 'name'? I just want to come up with cool names, too!" she said. "Next picture!" I said. She rolled her eyes and dug into a box. She brought out a picture of the alien I called Stinkfly. "Stinkfly." I said. "Because he flys and that stuff he shoots from his eyes reaks." Gwen rolled her eyes again. "Why does everything have to be stinky with guys?" she asked. "Hold on! How do you know that the stuff he shoots smells bad?" It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Come on, Dweeb! I've been in the areas that he is sighted in at times!" I said. "Oh, really?" she asked. "Than do you find it strange that we haven't run into each other at the scenes?" she asked. I shook my head. _No. But I'm surprised that I haven't seen you when I'm in alien form._ "Gwen, just because we live in the same city doesn't mean we have to run into each other." I said. "Whatever." she replied.

She took out another photo, of an alien I called Wildmutt. He was chasing a group of violent motorcyclists. "Wildmutt." I said. "He looks wild and he is a mutt." Gwen nodded. "Fair." she said, taking out another photo. It was of Four Arms, stopping a bank robbery. "Let me guess. Four eyes, right?" she asked. I shook my head. "Four _Arms_." I said. "I think that's self-explanatory." Gwen just chuckled and she took out the next photo. It was a picture of Greymatter, deactivating a security camera. _Okay, I don't even want to know how she got that one._ "Greymatter." I said. "He's small, grey and has to be smart to deactivate a security camera." Gwen shrugged. "I guess so." she said. We eventually went through all of them. "You're just jealous." Gwen said. "Excuse me?" I asked. "You are jealous of me. You are jealous because I'm doing something amazing with my life!" Gwen exclaimed, as she cleaned up her pictures. _You are so lucky that I can't risk proving you wrong._ "Whatever." I said. "Well, you are!" Gwen exclaimed. "Hey, who got all A's on his report card this semester?" I asked. "Who has been on my school's honor roll list for the last two years?" Gwen asked.

Gwen was doing everything she could to try to prove that she was better than me. _Oh yeah? Well who has an alien watch attached to his wrist, giving him the power to turn into ten different alien heroes?_ That's what I wanted to say. But I didn't say that. As I had already said, I couldn't risk saying that. "Okay. I admit it. I am jealous." I said, as calmly as I could. "Ha, I knew it! Sucker!" Gwen exclaimed, as she got up. She had really done it now. I was pissed off now. My blood felt like it was boiling. "Did you have to fucking rub it in?!" I screamed at her, as I got up. She turned to face me. Then, she just smiled a cute smile, as if I were a toddler that wasn't allowed a toy. "Oh, calm down, Ben. Besides, whoever this alien character is, I am going to keep taking pictures of him." Gwen said. "And I swear, one day, I'm going to be the one to 'unmask' him!" I rolled my eyes. "I don't know who he is, but I think I'm in love with him!" Gwen replied. _Oh. There's a happy thought. Gwen thinks that she is in love wih me and she doesn't even notice it. No... She's just obsessed with me! Him!_ "You're obsessed with him." I said. Gwen stopped what she was doing. "Gwen?" I asked. "Say that one more time." she said, as her hand clenched into a fist.

"You. Are. Obsessed. With. Him." I said. Then, she did something that surprised me. She turned right around and smacked me in the face. And hard. "Ow!" I said, holding my cheek. "What was that for?!" Gwen looked me, with an angry look on her face. "Don't you ever, ever tell me that I'm obsessed with something!" she shouted. She grabbed her boxes and turned right around. She walked to the stairs and left the room, without saying another word. Long after she was gone, I finally let out a sigh and slid back down against the couch. "I'm sorry. But it's the truth and you know it." I said outloud. I knew she couldn't hear me and she didn't want to hear me either. _Now I know. I definitely need to tell her that I'm him. The "alien guy". Because if I don't, she'll grow even more obsessed with him. With me. And that wouldn't be good. She also said that she think's that she is in love with him. Also me. God damn it! I have to tell her who I am! And I have to do it soon, before she figures it out! I need to make sure that she knows who I am, that way, she will realize how messed up it is to be in love with her cousin, of all people. Yep, it would seem that I am in a heap of trouble!_

A/N: So, what did you think of this chapter? I hope that all of the readers enjoyed this chapter! So, what do you think of Ben's science lab thing? What do you think of Gwen being obsessed with Ben's aliens? Well, she is really obsessed with Ben in general, she just doesn't know it. What do you think of her also, on top of all that, being in love with Ben, without knowing it? As I said in the last chapter, I am open to any questions you have! So, please follow and favorite this story! If you have questions, comments, concerns or if you simply want to submit input, than please review or PM me! I'm going to go though, so have a good day and bye!


	3. Chapter 3: From Hero To Zero

Chapter 3: From Hero To Zero

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to the third chapter of this story! Just whats to come for this chapter... We have Doctor Animo making an appearance! Although, he is going to be a minor villain, not a major villain... Vilgax and Zs'Skayr are major villains in this story. Another minor villain that will appear over the course of the story, is Sixsix. Although, since this is an AU of Ben 10, he's not going to be the Sixsix that all of you are used to. That's all I'm going to say about this. And in this chapter, Ben is going to start getting a little bit of backlash from the citizens of Bellwood (and you'll find out!). One last thing to say, this will be the first chapter where we will have POV switches. So, with nothing else to be said, I hope you will enjoy this chapter, and let's get on with it!

 _Gwen_

Since Ben had told me that I was just obsessed with the Alien Guy, I had went upstairs to watch the news in the family room. I didn't care what the jerk did right now. He had just told me that I was obsessed and I smacked him. It was justified. Maybe a half and hour after we had our fight, he came upstairs and walked to his room. We didn't exchange any words whatsoever. And that was fine with me. I was still pissed with him and I'm sure that he was still pissed with me. He just walked into his room and slammed the door. I just kept watching T.V. for about twenty more minutes. And it was at that time that it finally hit me. _Gwen, you came here for the summer to make amends for that fight you two had years ago. You two are pretty much doing it all over again! You're going to have to talk to him at some point!_ I sighed as I got off of the couch. I walked over to the door to his room and knocked. "Ben? Can I come in, please?" I asked. He didn't answer. I knocked again. After he didn't answer again, I tried his doorknob. His door was locked. "Ben, I just to talk-" I said, as I opened the door. "-to you." I realized that I was just talking to myself as soon as I entered the room.

He wasn't any where to be seen, and his window was open. I walked over to his window and looked outside. Once again, he was nowhere to be seen. "Ben!" I called. "Where are you?" No answer. I let out a sigh as I walked out of the room and closed his door again. "Where could he have gone?" I asked myself. "I should go looking for him!" I walked into the guest room, which was more like my room and got my shoes on. I walked back into the family room. Just as I was about to walk out the door, I heard something that caught my attention. I turned my attention to the T.V. and saw a reporter covering at the location of a burning apartment building. The headline said: "Fire started in apartment building. Sightings of 'Alien Guy' suspected." _Alien Guy? Or Ben? Alien Guy or Ben?_ I let out a sigh as I made my decision. I walked into my room and grabbed the camera that I had put in my bag. _Sorry Ben, but going looking for Alien Guy is much more interesting than looking for you. Sorry, cousin!_ I walked out the door and closed it, and started making my way to the nearby smoke in the sky.

 _Ben_

 _Fifteen Minutes Earlier..._

Since Gwen and I got into our fight, I needed to blow off some steam. I made it look like I was in my room, and once I was in there, after about five minutes, I opened my window and left the house. I got on my bike and pedaled down to the clubhouse so I could work out for a while. Once I got there, I decided to start with the punching bag. _Yes, I had a punching bag. Sorry, I forgot to mention that._ We also had a radio in the clubhouse. Whenever I was by myself, I had it set to a news station, so I could overhear anythig happening in the city as I worked out. Eventually, after punching the bag so many times, I gave out. "Damn it!" I said, as I punched it even harder than I previously had. "Why doesn't Gwen understand that she clearly _is_ obsessed with Alien Guy? Or, me, I guess?" I punched the bag again. "And yet, she insists that I'm just jealous of her! Jokes on her, I'm a superhero and she's not! She's the one that should be jealous! Well, I can't really tell her that secret, seeing as it would risk her safety and mine, but still!" I exclaimed.

I let out a sigh, as I took a break from the punching bag. I went over to the bench, sat down and started lifting the five pound weights. About five more minutes of lifting, I heard something on the radio that got my attention. "We are on the scene on Johnson Boulevard, where an apartment building as mysteriously went up in flames." I practically dropped the weights on the floor. "Apartment building gone up in flames?" I asked, as I grabbed my jacket, putting back on. "Looks like a job for, well, Alien Guy, I guess. Well, at least it's what they call me." I walked out of the clubhouse and got on my bike and started to pedal towards the smoke I saw in the distance.

 _Five Minutes Later..._

I arrived at the scene five minutes later. It was a three or four story apartment building. _Damn, it's really gone up in flames. If only there was a way I could fight fire with ice. Wait, fight fire with fire... That's it! I can use Heatblast to absorb the flames and save the building! It's the perfect plan!_ I got off of my bike and I ran into an alley, too make sure that I wouldn't be seen. I then brought the alien watch out of wrist watch mode and activated the alien watch. I turned the ring to Heatblast's figure and slammed down on it. Once I had transformed, I ran into the building to begin to absorb the flames. I concentrated as hard as I could and literally "sucked" the flames into my own body. I walked through the building, as I listened for any people that were trapped in the building. "Hello!" I shouted. "Is anyone in here?!" There was no answer at first, but a few seconds later, someone called out. "Help! Help me!" a female voice said. I ran towards a flight of stairs, as I called out. "Where are you?!" I shouted. I heard what sounded like sobbing, from the floor above me.

"I'm coming!" I called. "Just hang on! Everything's going to be okay!" I stopped to absorb all of the fire I could see around me. Once I did, I staggered a little bit, before almost falling. _I've never tried absorbing so much fire in one setting before... It's as if absorbing so much of it is leaving me out of breath. As if my energy is being sapped. I have to find the civilian!_ I staggered towards the flight of stairs. "I'll be right there!" I called, my voice sounding lower than it should have been. I finally made it to the top of the stairs, when out of nowhere, I was blasted with water. I was knocked up against the wall, as all of the fire on Heatblast's body flickered and went out. I got up slowly, to see an armored figure standing a few feet away from me, holding a water hose, and like a water hose they had in apartment buildings. "Why? Get out of my way! I have a civilian to save!" I said, as the fire on Heatblast's body re-ignited. The armored figure just laughed, as he sprayed me with a wide stream of ice cold water again, dousing the flames on my body. "Really?" the person asked, once I recovered. "You mean, this civilian?" The figure twisted a knob on their suit and spoke. "Help! Help me!" the female voice that I had heard minutes ago played over speakers in the person's armor.

It was the same exact tone and pitch as well. So, there was no doubt in my mind, that the woman who had screamed out to me didn't even exist. "But why?" I asked. "You sent me to prison," the figure said, as they twisted another knob on their armor. The helmet retracted, revealing the person's face. "And it's payback time." Doctor Animo said. "Animo!" I exclaimed, as I began to warm back up. "How'd you get out of prison?" Doctor Animo laughed, as he blasted me with water again. I got back up, but before I could even do anything, my hand got frozen. _No. I mean, literally frozen._ Animo dropped the hose and took out a blaster of somekind, with a hose attached to a big tank on his back, that I was just now noticing. And he blasted me with it. Whatever was in that tank on his back must be kept cool at subzero temperatures, because it froze my right hand to the wall and even with Heatblast's powers, I couldn't ignite my hand. "Why are you doing this, Animo?" I asked, as I tried to thaw out the ice with my other hand. Before I could get very far however, don't ask me why I did it, but once I had slapped my left hand back against the wall, Animo froze that hand against the wall. Then, he froze a good amount of both my arms to the wall. At least up to Heatblast's elbows.

"There. That should hold you long enough so I can talk to you." Animo said. "Why are you doing this?" I asked him again. "Because you got me put me in prison," Animo said. "And I have a score to settle with you, Tennyson!" My eyes widened. _Tennyson?! How does he know who I really am?!_ "How do you know me?!" I asked, as I struggled to re-ignite my arms, with no avail. I let out a sigh as I failed again. "Please, Maxwell!" Animo said. "Did you really think, that after so many years, I would forget that you busted me? And even if you thought it'd be hard for me to recognize you with that new alien transformation ability, you fight exactly like you did twenty years ago! I don't forget people! Especially not you, Maxwell Tennyson!" _Animo thinks he's talking to my Grandpa Max Tennyson! But why would Grandpa know Animo? How would they know each other? Could it be possible, that Grandpa Max was a cop back in the day?_ I had to play dumb. I had to make Animo believe that I really was Max Tennyson. "I guess it has been a while, hasn't Animo?" I asked. Animo must have bought. "Yes it has, hasn't it?" he asked.

"I guess I'm in trouble now, aren't I?" I asked. Animo laughed, as he fired his blaster, freezing my feet to the wall. "Yes, you could say that..." he said. "Maxwell, did I ever tell you what my favorite thing about a hero is?" I shook my head. "No, you never did." I said. He fired his blaster, completely freezing my legs to the wall. "The thing that people enjoy the most about heroes, more than anything else, is that they love to see them fall. Die trying." Animo said. "From a pyschotic point of view, sure." I said. Animo continued freezing me, this time, he iced my hip and pelvic areas. "Why do you continue being a hero, Tennyson?" Animo asked. "Because it's right." I said. Animo walked over to me and playfully slapped me on the shoulder. "Here's the real kicker." he said. "There are thousands, if not a couple million people in this city. And you help out a damn lot of them. You help them and brighten their days, everyday, time and time again." I let out a groan, as he blasted my chest, icing it as well. "What's your point, Animo?" I asked. Animo began walking away, until he was right in front of me. He pointed the blaster directly at my face. "My point is, after everything you've done for them, eventually they will hate you." Animo said. Animo fired, freezing me face completely. I was pretty sure my entire body had been iced over now. I couldn't move any part of my body, and Animo seemed not to care.

After that, Animo went around the hallway that we were in and started freezing everything over. The walls, the ceiling, the floors, _everything._ Eventually, he made his way back over to me and waved his hand over my frozen face. I could barely make out him saying: "Think about what I said, hero! It won't be long until your heart stops and freezes over, along with your vital organs!" He walked down the flight of stairs and turned behind him, freezing the stairs as well, so it was impossible to get down that way. _He's right! I don't have long until I transform back to human form! I need to concentrate! I need to heat up!_ I concentrated as hard as I could, trying to summon the heat. I had to summon enough heat to thaw me out, but I had to make sure I didn't overdo it, I didn't want to burn the place down. I stopped once I realized that it wasn't working. _Animo was right. I'm going to freeze to death! Even as Heatblast, I feel like I'm outside in thirty degree weather or below! I guess I'll never find out if Gwen forgives me. I won't ever have the chance to tell her that I'm the Alien Guy! I'll never figure out if she likes me! Whoa, I wasn't sure where that last one came from! But one thing is for sure. I cannot give up now!_ I concentrated harder than I ever had before, so hard, that it hurt to do so. Then, I let out a gut-wrenching scream, as a wave of fire came over me.

 _A Few Minutes Later..._

I was still breathing, thank God. That was the good news. The bad news? Well, let's start with this: I regained my strength and pushed the rubble off of my back. I looked down at my hands, to see I was completely made of fire. Like, the charcoal-like body that Heatblast had? No, forget that. My body was completely made of fire! I don't know what I had done. Maybe it had something to do with absorbing the fire... I kept looked at my hands and was kind of surprised, to see the fire start to die down, revealing Heatblast's charcoal body again. I saw a flash of light in front of me. I looked up and around me. _Hot damn. I failed. I had burned the entire building down._ Yeah, there was barely anything left of the apartment building. I looked in front of me. I saw a red-headed young lady with a camera. When she lowered the camera, I wasn't too surprised that it was Gwen. I couldn't stay here. I was probably displayed as the _bad guy_ , not the hero now. I slowly walked backwards a little bit and then, turned and ran as fast as I could, heading for my bike. No one tried to follow me. About two minutes later, I transformed back into my human form, switched the alien watch back to wrist watch mode and got on my bike. I started peddling in my house's direction, as fast as I could. I couldn't risk letting Gwen see me. She could put two and two together if she saw me out here.

 _Eight O'Clock P.M._

After my humiliating day of hero work, I stayed in my room. I occasionally came out to get a drink or use the bathroom, but I pretty much kept to myself. It was about noon when I got back. Like I said, I just stayed in my room for the rest of the day watching T.V. One of the times I came out, Gwen asked me where I had snuck off to. _Well, shit. She went into my room while I was working out at the clubhouse._ So, I told her the truth. "I needed to blow off some steam. So I went to go work out at a clubhouse that all of my friends and I hang out at." I had said. She had asked me where it was at, but I just told her I was in a pretty shitty mood and I just wanted to be left the hell alone. So, she didn't pester me anymore after that. I was still sitting in my room, when I heard a knock at my door. I turned my head to look at my closed door. I was too lazy to get up. "It's open!" I said. Gwen opened my bedroom door and walked in. "Hey." she said, as she sat down at the foot of my bed. "Hey?" I said. "What do you want?" That's when I noticed they rolled up paper underneath her arm. "I went out to buy today's paper." Gwen said, as she handed it to me.

Don't be shocked. Ever since Alien Guy started fighting crime here in the city, it was fairly common for a newspaper to be released on the same day of the foiled crime. I unrolled the current edition of the Bellwood Post. The front page picture was of Heatblast, standing in the ruins of the apartment building. I looked up at Gwen, who was smiling from ear-to-ear, obviously proud of the picture that she submitted to be used in the paper today. "Congratulations Dweeb." I said, as I looked back down at the paper. Right underneath Heatblast's picture, was the proof: _Photograph taken by Gwen Tennyson._ I started to read the headline. "Is He Really A Hero?" I started reading outloud, as I raised my eyebrow and my raised in anger a bit. "Alien Guy: Hero or Menace?!" I looked back at Gwen as I balled up the paper in anger. "What the fuck is this?!" I shouted, as I tossed it across the room. Now Gwen was angry. Again. _Gee, I wonder if it's her time of the month. Don't tell her I said that. She'll knock my teeth out._ "What'd you do that for?!" she yelled, as she got off of my bed to get the paper. She picked it up and turned around, glaring at me. "Talk!" she yelled at me.

"That was for the sole fact that I should get more credit for this!" I exclaimed, in an angry tone. "Why should you get credit?!" Gwen shouted. "You weren't even involved!" I got up and got into her face. We were now nose-to-nose, both really angry. "You want an explanation? Well, I'll give you one! You know all those aliens you've taken pictures of, Gwen?!" I asked, as I backed away from her. "Yeah? What about them?!" she shouted back at me. "I'm them!" I yelled. "All of these aliens are me and all because of an alien watch! I decided to use the power for good, because I've always wanted to be a hero! And I'm living the dream, baby!" The anger in Gwen's eyes died down and she now looked at me in shock. "What?" she asked. "All ten of those aliens? They are all me! I hope you understand why I'm so pissed off now!" I yelled. Gwen kept staring at me. Eventually, she smirked. And started laughing. She laughed for several seconds. Before I could speak, she beat me to it. "You are _not_ them!" Gwen said, as she howled with laughter. "You are just jealous as always! You just wish that you were him!" _You just wish that you were him!_ My eyes stung with a few tears. "Yeah." I said. "I know how that feels." I walked to the door, flung it all the way open and walked down the hall, punching the wall as I walked.

As I got into the family room, I could hear Gwen running after me. "Ben, what do you mean by that?" she asked. I turned around, but before I could speak, the T.V. started to talk about something we were both more interested in. "There are still no reports of where 'Alien Guy' is hiding." a news reporter spoke. Gwen and I came out into the family room, out in front of the T.V. and began to watch the news report. "His actions today have convinced the people that he is not hero, but a public menace." the news reporter kept talking. "And if you see him, you are to report where he is. If you know where he is, you are to report where he is hiding. We are now going to go live to the Chief of the Bellwood Police, Chief Andrew Simmons, with his report on the situation." The scene on the news shifted and I looked at the Chief of Police, who was standing at the stairs of the Police Station. "Chief Simmons! What do you plan to do about the 'Alien Guy'?" a member in the crowd asked. "The so called 'vigilante', 'Alien Guy', burned down an apartment building today." Chief Simmons spoke. "And if you see any of these ten 'aliens', you are to report them to the police force of Bellwood." Pictures of my aliens popped up on screen. _Wildmutt, Fourarms, Greymatter, XLR8, Upgrade, Diamondhead, Stinkfly, Ripjaws, Ghostfreak and Heatblast. They were all there._

"We will catch this 'Alien Guy'. And we will bring him in for questioning." _It's the Alien Guy justice system!_ I stopped watching after that. I looked at Gwen, who had carefully unballed the newspaper and put it back on the kitchen table. "Yes! Alien Guy is going to get what he deserves! There will be nowhere for him to run!" Gwen exclaimed. I frowned as I turned back to the T.V. _Thanks, Gwen. I needed that._ After that, Gwen came back into the family room and sat down on the couch. I walked into the kitchen and looked down at the newspaper lying on the table. I just looked at it, as I picked it up with shaky hands. I read the headline again. "Is He Really A Hero? Alien Guy: Hero or Menace?" I whispered to myself. I sighed, as I put it back down on the table. _After everything you've done for them, eventually they will hate you._ Animo's words echoed in my head. _Animo was right. The public does hate me after today. I was supposed to be a hero! Now, I've gone from hero, to zero. My God. What have I done?_

 _Two Hours Later..._

I sat on my bed, still in my day clothes. I have had quiet a rough day today, that is for sure. And to make matters worse, there was a "bounty" on my head. _We will catch this 'Alien Guy'. And we will bring him in for questioning. You just wish that you were him!_ Gwen's words echoed in my mind. When Kai and I had broken up, the very next day, I saw her with a different guy, kissing and holding hands in the halls of the school. When I finally caught her alone, I asked her if we could give our relationship one more try. She laughed when I asked her. _"You just wish that you were him!" Kai had said to me._ And that's what Gwen had said about me being Alien Guy today. She didn't believe me. And somehow, Animo knows my Grandpa Max. I had to figure out how and why. And I also had to figure out how to convince Gwen that I _was_ Alien Guy. I looked at the alien watch in wrist watch mode on my wrist. "Well, I guess the only saving grace is that I don't have to use you right now." I said, as I took it off. I threw it across the room, where it hit a wall and disappeared behind my laundry bin. I sighed as I got up to shut off the light. After I shut off the light, I laid down on my bed and tried to get some sleep.

A/N: So, what did you all think of this chapter? Was it any good? I hope you really didn't expect that Ben would tell Gwen who he is this early into the story. What do you think of the incident with Animo? What do you think of Ben not going hero for a while? What about the city thinking that he is a menace? Well, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! And if you did, please follow and favorite this story. Also please review or PM me if you want to submit input. So, with that being said, I am going to go, so have a good day and bye!


	4. Chapter 4: Alien Device

Chapter 4: Alien Device

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Ben_

 _8:00 a.m._

I woke up the next morning, remembering that I was public enemy number one of Bellwood. Was the whole incident my fault? Yes. It was. I tried to summon Heatblast's energy to thaw myself out, and as a result, I used too much of it and burned down the apartment building. But if it weren't for Animo, it would never of happened. So we were both at fault. Unfortunately, the press, police and public don't know about that part. So, I am seen as a public enemy. I was treated to, well, something different this morning. I sat up on my bed, still in my street clothes and saw the alien watch, right back on my wrist. "What the fuck!" I hissed in a surprised tone, as I jumped up from my bed. I looked at my wrist in complete shock. "But that's impossible!" I said. And it wasn't in wrist watch form. It was in it's alien watch form. _I guess I'm lucky that Gwen didn't come in here over night._ I just stared at the alien watch. "What are you?" I asked it. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get an answer. "Okay." I sighed. "Good talk." I was pretty angry at this moment. I was angry at Gwen, because of the newspaper. But then again, it wasn't her fault.

She didn't have to take that picture. And if she hadn't of taken that picture, maybe, just maybe the police force would not have been able to pin me to the crime. A crime I didn't even do. I stared at the alien watch once more. I sighed, as I tapped the button, switching it wrist watch mode. I got up and opened my bedroom door, walking out into the hallway. I walked down the hallway and into the living room, to see Gwen asleep on the couch. I let out a sigh, as I saw her without a blanket draped over her. I walked back into the hall and quietly opened the closet door. I pulled out a blanket and quietly closed the door. I walked back into the living room and draped the blanket over her. After I was in the kitchen, out of the living room. I stood there, just thinking about what I should do in my current situation. Eventually, I found myself looking at the watch. Eventually I smiled. "I know what I have to do." I said. I started walking towards the door to the backyard. "I know what I have to do." I whispered.

 _Five Minutes Later..._

I was standing in the shed, in the backyard, with a shovel in my hand. "I loved the fact, that I was a hero at first. I wanted to be Batman, Spider-Man, Super-Man, Daredevil. I wanted to be every superhero at one point in time. I was so excited when I figured out what you could let me do. That was before my life was screwed up. And you did it. You fucked it up!" I said, as I stared down at the watch, sitting on the workbench in the shed. "So, now that you have went and messed up my life, I don't feel so guilty about doing this." I let out a sigh as I swung the shovel down towards the watch. I don't know what it was. Maybe the watch had some kind of a failsafe. Either way, I have no idea. I just swung the shovel. And as soon as the blade of the shovel made contact with the watch, I was knocked backwards. I flew backwards, into a stack of wooden boards. Upon impacting the floor, the boards fell on top of me.

 _Gwen_

I woke up on the couch, with a blanket draped on me. I yawned as sat up, looking around the room. I had fallen asleep out here last night, while watching T.V. "Ben?" I called out. I got up off of the couch and walked over to his room and pushed open his door all the way. His bed was made, so I guess he was already up and about for the day. I walked through the entire upstairs looking for him, but I didn't find him. Next I searched for him downstairs. It surprised me that he wasn't in the game room. I knocked on the door that he had told me I couldn't go into. "Ben, are you in there?" I asked. After not hearing him, I was tempted to knock the door down, but I respected his privacy. "Where the hell is he?" I asked.

 _Ben_

 _Ten Minutes Later..._

When I came to, I was lying beneath the wooden boards. I let out a gasp of pain as I pushed myself up, allowing the boards to fall off. I stood up and walked over to the table, where the watch was sitting. "Huh." I said. "I guess I can't destroy you, can I? That sucks. Because I really wanted to be able to destroy you. You fucked up my life." Of course, I didn't get an answer. "No answer? I expected that much." I said. I just stared at the watch, before I sighed. "Well, I might as well wear you. For now." I said, as I picked it up and put it back on my wrist. I also switched it to wrist watch mode. I walked out of the shed, not bothering to clean my mess up. I walked back up to the sliding glass door to the house and opened it. It didn't take long for Gwen to come around the corner into the kitchen. "Ben, where were you?" she asked. "Are you okay?" I nodded as I walked past her. "I'm fine. I just needed some fresh air." I said.

"Well, can we talk for a minute?" she asked. "Sure." I said. "Just give me a minute." I walked down the hallway that led to the staircase to the attic. I reached for the pull string and pulled the staircase down to the floor. I walked up into the attic and walked through the room of boxes, old furniture and more old stuff. I finally came to an empty shoe box that sat up on a shelf. "Well, I think our run is over." I said, as I took the alien watch off. "I never thought I'd be so happy to put you away. Good riddance." I said. I sat the watch into the box and closed it. I left the watch in that box, and left the attic. After I had gotten back down the stairs and had sealed up the attic, Gwen approached me. "So uh, what were you doing up there?" she asked. "Nothing important. Just don't worry about it." I said. "Okay." she said. "So, there was something you wanted to talk to me about something?" I asked.

"Um, yeah. I did. I realize that we haven't really been getting along since I've been here." she said. "Yeah. I noticed. Started about the time I told you that you were obsessed with Alien Guy." I said. I waited for her to smack me again. It surprised me when she didn't. "Look, maybe I am obsessed with him. But its a good source of money for me when I can actually get my pictures submitted into the newspaper. You see, for the first time in my life, when he came around, I felt like there was a point to my life." Gwen said. "I could say the same thing about myself." I replied. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Nothing. Look, you can't depend on him, Gwen. You never know when he could just quit being a hero." I said, silently referencing my own quitting. "Or, you never know if he could just decide that being a hero isn't enough and he decides to be the villain."

"You don't know that, Ben." Gwen said. "You're right." I said. "But I know from past experience that it is a possibility." Gwen raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" she asked. "You probably won't understand any of this, but it is from a comic book. In the Batman story arc, titled A Death in the Family, Batman's second side kick, Jason Todd was beaten and then blown up by the Joker. He was later resurrected via Ra's Al Ghul's Lazarus Pit, but he came back mentally fractured. Eventually, he became The Red Hood, an anti hero who killed his victims, instead of jailing them." I said. Gwen was silent for a second. "Well yeah, but that's just comic book." she said. "I know. I'm just trying to state that anything is possible." I said. "Well, anyway, I know we hadn't really gotten along. So, I wanted to ask if you'd like to start over." Gwen said. "Start over?" I asked. "Yeah, like put everything behind us." Gwen said. "How?" I asked. "That new water park I mentioned the day I got here." Gwen said.

"The Riptide Rapids Zone? What about it?" I asked. "It's open all day today. Well, it's open all day everyday, but that isn't my point." she said. "My point is, is that we could spend the whole day there, put our past behind us and actually try to get along for once." I shrugged. "I guess so." I said. "I could get out of the house for the day." Gwen smiled. "Does that mean we're going?" she asked. "Yeah, sure. Why not." I said. "Just let me go get my trunks on and put shorts on over those to wear on the way there. I'll be back in like, five minutes. If even that." I walked to my room to and opened the door. I closed the door behind me and was about to go to my dresser, when I turned around and was met with a shocking scene. The alien watch, that I had put in the attic no less than then minutes ago, was sitting on my night stand. "What the hell?" I hissed as I walked over to it. "What the hell? How the hell did you get in here?!"

I quickly left my room and pulled the staircase to the attic down. I ran up the staircase with lightning speed. I ran to the shelf, where the shoe box was and opened it. The watch, of course, was not in there. I let out a growl of anger, as I threw the box to the ground. I kicked the box across the room and ran the way I came. I closed up the attic and ran back to my room. I closed the door again and turned to look at the watch. "What the fuck is this? I know you're alive! Talk to me!" I hissed, as I pointed at it. It kind of surprised me that it didn't speak or move. "I have my eyes on you." I said. I walked over to my dresser, pulled out my trunks and gym shorts to wear over them. I put on my trunks and then my shorts. I finally walked back over to my night stand and sighed. "Well, I guess I can't ignore you." I said, as I picked up the watch and put it on. "I might was well bring you with me. You leave me no choice anyway."

I walked out of my room, with the watch in wrist watch mode. I waited for Gwen to be ready to go. She came out of her room about five minutes later, wearing shorts and a T-shirt over what I assumed to be her swimsuit. "Are you ready to go?" she asked. "Sure." I said. "I'm ready whenever you are." She grinned. "Well, let's go then! I'm driving!" We walked out of the house, me with the keys to the house and my phone. And she had a bag with sunscreen in it, a fresh change of clothes for her, a couple of water bottles and goggles for both me and her. Well, only me because I snuck my goggles into her bag. A few minutes and two seatbelts later, we were on our way.

A/N: So, this was the chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it, even though it was a short one. The next one will be longer, I just wanted to get this chapter out today, as Saturday is almost over, as of the time I'm writing this. I'd like to say now that I have a new schedule for posting. There will be a guarenteed chapter up every Saturday. Not necessarily for this story, that goes for any one of my stories on Fanfiction. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have enjoyed the story so far, then by all means, please favorite and follow the story. Also, if you want to submit input, then you can submit a review or PM me, either way will work for me. So, with that said, I am going to go, so have a good night and bye!


	5. Chapter 5: Water Park Attack

Chapter 5: Water Park Attack

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to the fifth chapter. Before you start reading, I have a few things to say. The first thing I need to say, is that I have a new writing style, as someone (his or her name escapes me) recommended it. The second thing is, if anyone is really excited for Gwen and Ben to get together in this chapter (I swear, every Bwen fan thinks that what will happen in this chapter and it will not be happening), you all need to calm down. Ben and Gwen won't be getting into a relationship for at least ten more chapters. It's going to be a while and you guys should just be patient. Don't worry. It'll happen, just not right now. Last thing, Vilgax will be making his first appearance in this chapter. Those are the three things that I wanted to say. So with that, being said, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _10:30 a.m._

We didn't go to the water park right away. First we went out to Denny's for breakfest. After that, we headed up to the water park. As we pulled into the parking lot, my jaw dropped when I saw how big the park looked. Once we get out of the car, I could get a closer look.

"Man, this place looks fantastic!" I said, as I closed the car door.

"Did I tell you? Or did I tell you?" Gwen asked.

I just laughed. "No, you did tell me." I said.

We headed into the park, into the main lobby area. After a short chat with the lady at the desk we had bought two tickets to the park. But of course, in true amusement park fashion, we had to wear those stupid bands around our wrists.

We walked into the park, and looked around in awe. I saw a very long lazy river, multiple water slides, a wave pool, a few swimming pools if you aren't feeling the other rides, and there was like a little play area for children, with smaller water slides, those kind of structures you see at playground parks and one of those giant buckets that tip over when they're full of water.

"Wow." I said.

"Yeah, what you said." Gwen replied.

"So, where to start?" I asked.

Gwen pointed to the little water playground area thing. "Over there. Let's go."

"Simple as that?" I asked.

"Simple as that." Gwen said.

I just shrugged as I followed her. We walked over to two vacant deck chairs and put our stuff down. Gwen started digging through the bag, probably looking for sunblock. She came back up to look at me, with a bit of an annoyed expression.

"You snuck your goggles into my bag?" she asked.

I just made a bit of a "meh expression" with my lips and shrugged at her, putting my hands in the air as I shrugged.

"Whatever. I'm not mad. Just a little annoyed I guess." she said, as she turned back to the bag, tossing my goggles behind her. I caught them, as she continued going through the bag.

She finally came back up, turning around with the sun screen in her hand.

"Here. Hold this." she said.

She turned around and took off her shirt, revealing that she was wearing a bikini. A alternating blue and orange thick-striped bikini, that is. Maybe it was just me, but when she went to take off her short shorts, it seemed like she stuck her butt out, as if she wanted me to notice it. And I kinda did, me standing there, with wide eyes.

She turned around to look at me. A confused look came upon her face.

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head. "Nothing." I said.

She took the sun screen from me and began to spray it on her arms. I just stood there, looking elsewhere as she sprayed herself with the sun screen.

"Ben?" Gwen asked.

 _I wonder if the alien watch is alive? It would make sense, but how could a machine be alive?_

"Ben?" Gwen asked, with a note of concern in her voice.

I looked back at her. "What?" I asked.

She handed me the can of sunscreen. "I need you to spray my back." she said, as she turned around and stood up straighter.

 _Um, why?_ I stood there for a few seconds, before spraying her back as she asked. She jumped just a little bit, as the spray touched her skin. I grinned.

"Hey, you asked." I said.

"Yeah, I know. I just wasn't expecting it to be so cold, since I had already sprayed myself." she said.

She turned back around and I handed her back the can of sun screen.

"Now let me do you." she said.

I didn't really register what she had said very well, and I immediately blushed.

"What?" I asked, my voice cracking as I spoke.

Gwen pointed to the can of sunscreen.

"Now let me do you." she repeated, still pointing at the can.

"No, that's okay." I said.

"What do you mean, that's okay?" she asked.

"I don't need the sun screen." I said.

"Why? Would you prefer to be sun burnt?" she asked.

To be truthful, I didn't really get sun burnt anymore. Ever since I had gotten the alien watch, it was like I was immune to getting sun burnt, if that makes sense.

"You'd be surprised how sun burnt I am by the end of the day." I said.

"If you say so." Gwen replied. "So, what do you want to do first?"

"I want to go to one of the swimming pools." I said.

"One of the swimming pools? Why?" Gwen asked.

"I want to see how my lungs are holding up." I said.

"Um, what?" Gwen asked. "What the hell does that mean?"

"Okay, so I was on the swim team for the last couple years of school and I was great at the underwater relay." I said. "I just want to see if I'm still good at it."

"The underwater relay?" Gwen asked.

"It's an event that they do towards the end of every season, where lots of selected team members compete in a race to the other end of the pool." I said. "Oh, and did I mention that this entire race is underwater? If you surface, you and your team will be disqualified."

Gwen's eyes widened. "Wow. So, basically it's just teams competing in just swimming underneath the surface to the other side?" she asked.

"Yes. Jesus, Gwen! Doesn't your school have a swim team?" I asked.

Gwen shook her head.

"Really?" I asked.

"I went to an all girls boarding school for the past three years. We never had a swim team. We don't even have a pool. I've never even kissed a guy." she said.

"Um, I get why you explain the boarding school situation, but why did you inform me that you've never kissed a guy?" I asked.

"I feel like I can confide in you Ben." Gwen said. "You were always my best friend. For a time anyway."

"I still am. And that will never change." I said.

Gwen perked up. "Well, let's get going."

She started walking, and I shrugged and followed her, with my goggles in hand.

 _Ten Minutes Later..._

The park was so big, that it took a full ten minutes to walk across the park, to the pool that had the least amount of people.

"Well? Go on! Prove me right!" Gwen said.

"What?" I asked, looking at her, with a bit of an angry look in my eyes.

"Ben, I know you can't swim from one end of the pool to the other without coming up for air. So prove to me that you can't!" she said.

"Dweeb, you're about to be proven wrong." I said.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Gwen said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I said, as I put my goggles on. "You just watch me!"

I stepped off of the pool deck and shot through the water, to the bottom of the pool. I put my feet against the wall of the pool and pushed off, but not too hard, as shooting through the water would be kind of cheating. I started to do breaststroke as I moved through the water, sometimes alternating to just dolphin kicking to get across to the other side. As I was just beginning to run out of the air that I was holding, I made it to the other side.

I put my feet on the bottom of the pool and pushed off, shooting towards the surface. I came up, through the surface of the water and removed my goggles, placing them up on the pool deck. I looked up at Gwen, as I was sort of gasping for air.

"Well?" I asked.

Gwen just smirked. "I knew you could do it." she said.

I put my foot up on the pool deck and pushed myself up and out of the water. "That's crap! You completely denied my ability to do it!" I said.

Gwen just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Now come on, it's my turn to pick. And I want to try one of the big, long waterslides."

I grabbed my goggles, as she ran off. "Yeah, yeah. Don't wait for me or anything." I said, as I took off after her.

 _Half An Hour Later..._

Thirty minutes later, after stopping back where we put our stuff, to put my goggles back, going down the waterslide twice and using the lazy river, we decided to go to the wave pool for a while.

As the waves started up for the second time, I decided to slip underneath the surface of the water, just to think for a minute. I took a breath and held it, before slipping underneath the surface down to the bottom of the pool. As I reached the bottom, I drew my knees to my chest and sort of sat down.

I'll be completely honest. Ever since I got the alien watch, it seems as though my lung capacity has increased. So much so, that I can hold my breath for a minute longer than I usually could.

As I was sitting there, contemplating quitting being a hero or not, I noticed Gwen slowly sinking down in front of me. Her bare feet eventually touched the bottom of the pool. She looked at me, with a sort of a smirk on her face. I looked back at her, into her emerald-colored eyes.

I don't know what it was. Maybe it was her eyes, maybe it was the way her long hair just seemed to float around her head, but she looked as stunningly beautiful as she ever did. She looked like a princess. Yes, that came from a seventeen year old.

 _Kiss her. Kiss her right now. You know you want to. Kiss her now. Do it now and surprise her as well._

I raised an eyebrow. _What? Those aren't my thoughts... Um, hello?_ I heard nothing else. A questionable look played on Gwen's face, as if she was questioning me. I got up from my sitting position and kicked off of the bottom of the pool. I burst through the surface of the wave pool, the waves still in effect. I started to fight against the waves, to get out of the wave pool.

I had no idea what had just happened in my head, why the thoughts of kissing Gwen came to my mind. After another thirty seconds or so of fighting the waves, I finally made it out of the wave pool. I turned around to face the wave pool and just sat down.

A couple seconds later, I felt water splashing at my feet and I noticed Gwen coming out of the wave pool.

"What was that?" she asked, as she flung her wet hair out of her face.

I looked up at her, again looking into her emerald colored eyes. I was sure I would hear those thoughts again, but I didn't. I looked back down at my feet, the smile on my face when we were underwater long gone.

"Hey!" Gwen said, gently kicking my shin. "I asked you a question!"

I got up to face her. "What's next?" I asked.

Gwen looked confused. "Ben, you don't get to do that. You can't just ignore my question and ask your own." she said. "What happened in the wave pool?"

"It doesn't matter." I said. "I'm fine, if that's what you're wondering. Now, what's next?"

Gwen still looked confused, before sighing. "I want to do something. And after that, we can do whatever. Go down the slides again, go down the lazy river, I don't care." she said.

"Well? Don't keep me in suspense." I said.

Gwen blushed, before speaking. "I want you to take me through the tunnel of love." she said.

My eyes widened so much, they nearly popped out of my sockets. "Okay, well, I'm going back into the wave pool." I said, as I walked past her.

"Oh no, you don't!" Gwen said, as she grabbed me by my shoulder. "We're going and we're going now!"

"Why." I said, as I continued trying for the water, but she held me back.

"Because I said so." Gwen said, as she dragged me away from the wave pool.

I just groaned as I stopped resisting and walked with her to the tunnel of love. _Oh God, what was going through her head?!_

 _Five Minutes Later..._

We were standing at the front of the tunnel of love, and surprisingly there was no line. It looked as though we were the only ones there. There was an employee there, setting up the tunnel for us.

He eyed us, as he was setting it up at the control panel. "You guys make a cute couple." he said.

"I'm sorry?" Gwen asked, as if she hadn't heard him.

Meanwhile, my face was burning up. I was blushing.

"I said you guys make a cute couple." the guy said.

"Oh, we're not a couple." Gwen said.

"Yes, yes, that's what they always say." the guy said.

I was still blushing.

Gwen looked at me. "Ben, your face is red. Is something wrong?" she asked.

I straightened up. "No. Nothing." I said.

The boat that Gwen and I would be sitting in came around. Finally. We both sat down in the boat and we were on our way.

As we were just getting into the tunnel, Gwen tried to say something, but I cut her off.

"We don't have to talk." I said.

"But we can." Gwen replied in return.

"Hey, I never wanted to do this. But you asked." I said.

"I think it's nice of you." she said.

"That's enough." I said. "No more talking."

"I'll talk. You don't have to." Gwen said.

I said nothing.

"You know. We both have our regrets. That fight, we had even years ago? That's on both of us." Gwen said.

I don't know what she was trying to do. She was probably just trying to get me to speak. It didn't work. I just sat there, as the boat moved through the water.

"It was my fault too. But you're also to blame." Gwen said.

I turned to look at her, in the dim light. I saw her, with her casual smirk playing on her lips. I was about to say something, probably ask her what was going through her head, when all of a sudden, the boat jerked to a stop.

When the boat jerked to a stop, I took my chance. When the boat jerked to a stop, I made it look like the force of it threw me out of the boat. Once I was underneath the surface of the water, I switched the alien watch out of it's camoflauge mode and moved the ring until I saw the alien I called Ripjaws. The water was surprisingly deep for the tunnel of love, so it was pretty easy to go deeper underwater, so Gwen wouldn't see me, even if she could see under the water in the dim light.

Once I had transformed, I looked around for the boat that Gwen and I had sat in. It was still there, stopped. I swam up to the boat, and burst out of the water. I grabbed the side of the boat, and made that growling sound that Ripjaws could make, as I looked at Gwen, her eyes full of fright.

I stopped my growling and just looked at her. Gwen looked back at me, before screaming in fear and swatting at me.

"Get away from me! Get away! What the hell do you want?!" she screamed.

I slipped back underneath the water, before resurfacing. I blinked, still looking at Gwen. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" I asked.

Gwen just looked at me, the fear from her eyes fading. "What?" she asked. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Joke?" I asked. "Sure. Sure it is."

"Wait, if you're here, then where's my cousin, Ben?" she asked.

"Oh. That brunette slob?" I asked. I had to bad mouth myself, to throw Gwen off my scent.

Gwen looked confused. "Where is he?" she asked.

"How should I know?" I asked. "And why would I care?"

"So, you don't care?" she asked.

"Bingo." I said.

"Wait, aren't you Alien Guy? Or one of them?" Gwen asked.

"Alien Guy?!" I asked, roaring with laughter. "Is that what you humans call me?"

"So, you aren't human?" Gwen asked.

"Not completely, no." I said.

"Where are your other aliens?" Gwen asked.

"What is this, an interview?" I asked.

Gwen's eyes lit up. "An interview! Can I interview you?"

"An interview?"

"Yes."

"Like, right now?"

"Yes!"

"No. Absolutely not. Out of the question."

"What? Why?" Gwen asked.

"Because I don't know you. And you don't know me." I said.

"So, interview me. Then, I can interview you." Gwen said.

"Maybe another time." I said.

"But, how will I find you?" Gwen asked.

"This cousin, of yours, Ben." I said.

"What does Ben know?" Gwen asked, as she frowned.

"You need to give your cousin more credit. He's a smart guy. I don't really like him, but he's a smart and cool guy." I said. "Ask him about a lab, in that basement of his. He'll do the rest for you."

Before Gwen could say anything else, there was a rumbling from up above us. Both of us looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel. I heard a cracking noise, beginning to accompany the rumbling.

"Grab my hand. Now." I said.

I grabbed Gwen's hand before she could even respond. I pulled her into the water as I submerged myself. We both sank, as I could barely hear a thud from above us, as the boat was submerged, thanks to the chunk of ceiling that had landed on it.

"That was close." Gwen said, after realizing what had happened. "Thanks."

Thing with Ripjaws, he kind of gave off a bubble of air, so Gwen could breath and talk to me while underwater.

"Yeah." I said. "No problem. Now I have to go figure out what caused that. And you need to go find your cousin."

"So, what? You're just gonna leave me here?" she asked.

"No, wrap your arms around my neck." I said, as I turned around, facing the the way we were going. "I'll do the rest."

I felt her arms wrap around my neck and I started using my tail to propel us through the water. As I was moving us through the tunnel, I decided to speak.

"One question, one answer. That's all I will take at this time." I said.

After maybe half a minute, Gwen spoke. "You know you are wanted by my city's police force, right?" she asked.

"Yes, I do." I said.

"Why are you doing this? Helping me?"

"Because it's right."

We eventually made it to the end of the tunnel and I let Gwen off of my back.

"Go find your cousin." I said.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I'll find out what's happening. Don't worry about me, just go." I said.

 _Ten Minutes Later..._

After ten minutes of searching and running from water source to water source, (because, Ripjaws, of course) I finally found what had made all of the racket topside. There seemed to be what looked like an alien spaceship close to the gates of the park. And people were currently vacating the park.

Before I could even look around, something with a huge amount of mass charged me. I was rammed into a wall and started being struck. And the strikes hurt, like nothing else I've ever experienced. I finally was able to see my attacker. For one, it looked like he had an octopus for a head. He also had glowing red eyes.

"What is your species doing on Earth?" the colossal giant asked.

"Who said I'm this alien's species?" I asked, as I gathered the strength to kick this guy away from me.

Who ever this guy was, I got a better look at him. He was a sickly pale green color, or at least his skin was. He chest area was heavily armored, but his arms were completely bare, except for some kind of harness that connected from his shoulders I guess, to his hands. The armor was a dark red or dark maroon color, I couldn't really put my finger on it.

Before I could do anything, he grabbed me and picked me up again.

"Ah, now, I see." the giant said. He pointed one of his talons at me and pressed the hourglass symbol that all of my aliens had.

Somehow, that changed me back into my human form.

"What the hell? How did you do that?" I asked.

The giant just laughed. "You are just a human child? How funny!" he said.

"Hey! There's a difference between an adult and child! I'm an adult!" I exclaimed. "Who are you?!"

"I am Vilgax, conqueror of worlds! And that device on your wrist, is rightfully mine." the giant said.

"I don't think so. Finders keepers, losers weepers." I said, as I smirked.

"You will hand over the Omnitrix to me. Now!" Vilgax exclaimed.

"Omnitrix? That's what you call it? Meh. I like my version better. Alien watch." I said, before I tried to move forward to punch him.

Vilgax kicked me back, but he surprisingly didn't put a lot of force into the kick, so I wasn't really harmed. I flipped backwards after I ended up on my back and got back onto my feet. Vilgax picked me back up and actually took a small piece of the alien watch off of my wrist.

"What did you just do?" I shouted.

"No matter. You will still be able to activate the Omnitrix." Vilgax said.

Just then, the alien watch turned green, telling me it had recharged. I took that chance and activated it, transforming into Diamondhead. After I had transformed, I charged into Vilgax, pushing him to the ground. I attempted to fire diamond shards into his face, but he easily pushed me off of him.

"My turn." he said, as he picked me up.

I don't know how to explain it, but when Vilgax leaped, he really did leap! He leaped to the top of one of the tallest waterslides in the park, in only a single bound. Once we were up there, I struggled against his grip. I tried to kick away from him, but seeing how high up we were, that probably wasn't a wise idea.

"You are very persistent. I hate persistent." Vilgax said.

"I get that a lot." I said.

"Not anymore." Vilgax said, before headbutting me.

My ears rang after he headbutted me. I shook my head a little bit, but that didn't really help the pain.

"Now, I'm going to speak. So listen, and listen well." Vilgax said.

"I'm all ears, squidface." I said, with nothing else for me to really do, it was the only thing I could say.

"Good." Vilgax said. "Listen, kid. I admire you. You remind me a lot of when I was your age. You have a lot of - oh, what is it that you humans call? Oh, yes. Moxie. You have a lot of moxie. Like I said, I like you kid. And you may or may not have made a new enemy today. So, I'm giving you a choice."

"Choice? What choice?" I asked.

"You stay away from me kid, you let me do what I need to do. Or, I will kill everyone you love and then you. How does that sound?" Vilgax asked.

Before I could answer, he kicked me off the top of the waterslide. Sending me soaring towards one of the pools.

"Think about it, hero!" was all I could hear him say.

I landed in the water and sank all the way to the bottom. And just as I touched the bottom, the watch timed out and I transformed back to human form. I mustered all the strength I could to swim up to the surface. My arm was the first thing to come up, to touch the concrete of the pool deck. I pushed myself up and out of the water, with the help of my other arm.

"Ugh, that sucked." I groaned in pain, as I rolled over onto my back.

A/N: So, that was the next chapter for this story. I'd like to apologize if I haven't already, for it taking so long. This chapter actually underwent multiple rewrites, ranging from just a relaxing day at the water park to a version that Vilgax wasn't even supposed to appear in at all. And about Vilgax, I know I said that he'd appear towards the end of the story, but come on! This is Vilgax we're talking about, Ben's arch nemesis. Speaking of which, did you enjoy Vilgax's debut in this story? What did you think of the whole scene at the wave pool, where Ben seemed to have those random thoughts? Any opinions on what those were caused by?

I'd like to formally apologize to fellow writer LoverOfArtemis, because I believe I got his/her name wrong in a message. I'd also like to shout out him/her because I took an idea they gave me and made it into a scene for this story. It was a small scene, but a scene nonetheless. For those of you who thought something was going to happen at the water park, well something did happen. It might not have been what you wanted, but you got what you got. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as for all the favorites and follows, please by all means, keep them coming. In you want to submit input for this much longer chapter, either PM me or post a review. With that said, I am going to go. So have a good day and bye.


	6. Chapter 6: After

Chapter 6: After

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: So, I know I already posted a chapter today. But, I wanted to give you readers who are really Bwen fans a chapter to look forward for more. And so that's what this is. This is a chapter that will make you readers (most of you, I hope) crave more from the story. So, here it is. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

 _Ben_

I let out a groan as I rolled onto my back.

"Who was that guy?" I asked, barely above a whisper.

I tried to sit up and pull my knees in towards my chest a little bit. But before I could get up, I fell back onto the concrete, letting out a hiss of pain as I did.

I brought my watch wrist into view, to see that there was a red electricity arcing here and there on the alien technology.

"What the fuck?" I asked, as I pressed it's camo button.

Luckly, it switched back to the wrist watch mode. I thought that it wouldn't, maybe because it was too damaged or something. But no. No. It did change back to the way I like it.

After lying there, with my eyes closed for a few more minutes, I heard Gwen's voice.

"Ben?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

I opened my eyes and looked up at her, seeing her cocking her head at me.

"Where the hell did you go? What happened? Did you see Alien Guy? I was so worried, Are you okay?" she exclaimed, pestering me with questions.

"I fell out of the boat and went under for while. I swam the other way after I heard the noise. Yes, I saw him at the big, vomit green goon fighting it out. I'm fine, my back just hurts." I said.

"How long were you under?" Gwen asked.

"A minute and a half. Maybe two." I said, as I groaned.

"That's not possible!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Yeah, it is. The average human in good health can hold their breath for about two minutes underwater." I said. "My time on the swim team helped me increase my lung capacity."

That was not a complete lie, but it was pretty much a lie. The time on the swim team did help me hold my breath for a longer period of time. By like ten seconds. The alien watch did it for me. It increased my lung capacity.

"Really?" Gwen asked, as she put her hand out for me to grab.

"Yeah." I said, as I took her hand.

She helped me up, and as soon as I got up, my legs felt like jelly.

"Oooh, uh oh." I said.

"What's the matter?" Gwen asked.

"Can't feel my legs." I said, as I fell backwards, back into the pool.

 _Four Hours Later..._

"Well, I think I can finally walk without my legs feeling like they're going to crumble every five minutes." I said, as I walked into the living room from the bathroom, drying my hair with the white towel I had gotten out of the closet.

"Well, that's good." Gwen said, as she came out from the kitchen.

I walked down the hall towards the basement stairs, where we kept the hamper to put my towel in.

I walked back into the kitchen, which you had to go through to get the hall that I was in, to see Gwen staring at me. Her eyes were a bit wide and there was a pink tint on her cheeks.

"What?" I asked.

After another few seconds of staring, she spoke.

"Is that really necessary?" Gwen asked, pointing at my chest.

I looked down at my bare chest, the only clothes I had on were jeans and socks.

"Is what necessary?" I asked.

"You being shirtless. Is that really necessary?" Gwen asked.

"Why? Is there a problem?" I asked.

"Does your mother allow you to parade around the house shirtless?" she asked.

"She doesn't mind." I said.

I don't know what the hell I was doing next. I just walked up to Gwen, until we were nose to nose.

"Besides, she's not here," I said, moving my lips to hers, making them barely two inches apart. "is she?"

Gwen just stood there, as her lips gently brushed against mine, but that was it. She quickly stepped away and moving into the living room, as she cleared her throat..

"Please, just go put a shirt on." Gwen said, from the other room.

I just smiled a dumb smile, as I chuckled.

"Whatever you say, your highness." I said, as I walked into the living room, towards my room.

I walked into my room and opened my top dresser drawer, where I kept my white T-shirts.

 _The plan to impress her with your almost six pack failed. You were so close. You just had to be a bit faster when you moved your face closer to hers._

"Look." I whispered, addressing that voice, as I put the T-shirt on. "I don't know who's voice this is and I don't know what you are trying to convince me of. Are you trying to make me fall for Gwen? Because if that's so, then that is just, fucked."

No answer.

"Good talk, whatever the hell you are." I said, before walking out of my room.

I walked back into the living room.

"Okay, what movie are we watching with dinner tonight?" I asked.

As I walked into the kitchen, I saw Gwen looking at me.

"Twilight." she said.

"What?" I asked.

She started laughing, as I noticed a movie case in her hand.

"No, that's just a joke. Here." she said, as she tossed me the case.

I caught it and looked at it. A bit of dissapointment came into my eyes. I was looking at the cover of a movie released in 1997. James Cameron's Titanic. I looked up at Gwen, her eyes shining with pride.

"What the fuck Gwen." I said.

She looked confused.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"Seriously, Gwen. What the fuck?" I asked.

"What?" Gwen exclaimed.

"I'm not watching this movie." I said.

"Why?" Gwen asked.

I rolled my eyes, as I tossed the movie back to her. She caught it.

"Three reasons. Three, I've seen this movie so many times that I could recite the entire movie just from memory. That and I know literally everything about the Titanic. Two, it's an almost three hour movie. And the number one reason, this is a romance movie and we're cousins. Put two and two together." I said.

She looked offended.

"You think I have that kind of mind, Ben?" she asked. "And you really know everything about the Titanic?"

I nodded.

"You chose Finding Nemo the first night. It's my turn to pick." I said.

"Please?" Gwen asked, as her emerald colored eyes were made more noticeable than ever.

 _Yes, just say yes._

"Go put it in the dvd player." I said.

Gwen squealed with delight and ran to me, hugging me.

"Just, go." I said, in a grumpy tone.

As she was setting it up, I went into the living room with her, and slumped down onto the couch, resting my head against the pillow on the couch.

 _Thiryt Minutes Later..._

We were eating left over pizza, just as the movie was starting. I could see on the screen, Brock and his team taking the submarines down to the wreck site to search for that necklace that Rose wears towards the end of the movie.

"I'm switching to your school in the fall." Gwen said.

"What?" I asked, as I continued eyeing the screen.

Gwen looked up at me, from her spot on the floor.

"I'm transferring to your school in the fall." Gwen repeated.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I was fed up with going to private school. I wanted to go to your school and see you." Gwen admitted. "I talked my mom into letting me go to your school. And she finally accepted and let me make my decision."

"Good for you, I guess." I replied.

We continued eating, as the movie went on. Eventually we were done eating and she took both of the plates. And I got back onto the couch, back to resting my head on the pillow. I was exhaused from the water park and I couldn't sit through that long of a movie. Little did I know, that I wasn't going to be able to make it no where near to the scene where the ship hit the iceberg.

 _Six Hours Later..._

I opened my eyes, coming out of a six hour nap. I noticed it was nighttime now, seeing the moon through the slightly open blinds. The T.V. had been turned off and except for the moonlight, it was pitch black in the room. I don't know if my body was just numb from taking somewhat of a beating today, but it was just then that I felt the weight on top of me.

I now noticed than Gwen was lying on top of me, her head laid down on my upper chest, just below my chin. I could tell it was her, because the moonlight illuminated her fiery red hair, almost to make it look like it was glowing. I now also noticed that she had her hand underneath the pillow, tenderly holding mine. I knew this was wrong. I knew that she shouldn't be sleeping with me, let alone on me.

"Gwen." I croaked.

My voice was hoarse, for some reason. Maybe it was from a beating I had taken earlier, but I didn't think that was it.

"Gwen." I whispered again, my voice just as hoarse.

She didn't respond. She shifted a little, but didn't wake up.

"Gwen, wake up. We can't be doing this. We can't have this." I whispered, trying again.

She, yet again, didn't move. So, I gave up. I noticed the folded up blanket that I had given her this morning, sitting on top of the couch above us. I grabbed it, with my free hand and some how managed to drape it over us without waking Gwen. She must have been as exhausted as I was, if more. I let out a sigh as I rested my head back on the pillow. I could feel my consciousness begin to slip away again.

"Must have taken more of a beating than I t-"

Those were my final words, before my eyes closed and I slipped back into sleep.

A/N: Well, what did you think of this bonus chapter of sorts? Did you like the moments between Ben and Gwen littered here and there? So, that's it for the "bonus chapter" if you want to call it that. Do you think Ben's lack of strength and ability to stay awake is from taking a beating from Vilgax? Or do you think it's something else? Anyway, I'm going to go, so have a good night and bye.


	7. Chapter 7: The Plumbers

Chapter 7: The Plumbers

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter seven! I'm going to start focusing on this story a little more because I left it without an update for a while. And I don't want that to happen again anytime soon. Anyway, in this chapter, Ben and Gwen's Grandpa Max will be making his debut. And along with Grandpa Max, this universe's version of the Plumbers will be making their debut as well. So, with nothing else to be said, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Eleven Hours Later..._

My eyes began to open, as I noticed sunlight shining through the blinds. I shielded my eyes with my hand, as the sunlight nearly blinded me. I noticed Gwen was no longer sleeping on top of me. I looked around the room without lifting my head off the pillow, to notice Gwen sitting on the single person couch.

She didn't notice that I was awake yet. I sat up completely and bit back a groan of pain, and she still didn't notice.

"Gwen." I whispered.

She still didn't notice me. So, this time, I put my foot on the floor and pushed myself up into a standing position. And yet, she still didn't notice me. I wasn't standing for five seconds when my legs quit on me. I fell right on my back as my legs gave out.

"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, as I heard her rushing from her seat.

"I'm okay." I said, I tried to pick myself up. "You worry too much."

"I don't worry enough." Gwen said, as she helped me up back onto the couch. "Why didn't you just say something? You shouldn't have gotten up right after you woke up!"

"Why?" I asked, as she covered my lap with the blanket. "Why should I not have gotten up?"

"Ben, you slept until eleven today. I couldn't even get you to wake up when it was time to eat this morning." Gwen said, in a worried tone.

"Bullshit." I said. "Oh, and speaking of sleep, when I woke up at around midnight last night, why were you asleep on top of me? Hmm?"

A pink tint crossed Gwen's cheeks. "I'm sorry." she said. "It was supposed to be a prank."

"A prank?" I asked, as I shook my head.

"Yeah." Gwen said. "When the movie was over, I noticed you were asleep. So, I laid down on top of you to wake you up. You were supposed to wake up and we were supposed to go to our rooms for the night. But you didn't wake up. So I waited. And waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. And I guess I myself fell asleep."

I scoffed. "Some prank." I said.

"Um, sorry I fell asleep on you?" Gwen asked.

"Apology accepted." I said, as I cringed. "On the account that the idea of just us sleeping together and _not_ doing anything is wrong. Just that idea is wrong."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are a pervert?" Gwen asked.

For some reason just then, my face burned with anger.

"Has anyone ever told you that you need to stop describing people you know nothing about?" I hissed in anger.

Gwen looked concerned, with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Ben? Are you feeling alright?" she asked. "It's your eyes. Normally, they are an emerald color like mine, but your eyes just now, they were like a dark green. Like the Hulk's skin, from Marvel comics."

"I feel fine!" I said, as I noticed my voice wasn't in a hiss tone this time. "And what do you mean I slept until eleven today? There's no way that's possible!"

Gwen reached for my phone, that I had sat on the side table next to the couch that I - ugh - _we_ slept on and showed me the screen. The digital clock told me it was eleven thirty.

"Jesus Christ!" I said, as I got back up.

Gwen tried to push me back down, but I pushed her back, away from me. I got up off the couch, stumbled a little bit, but managed to stay on my feet. I took my phone back from her.

"I must have been more exhausted than I thought." I said.

"Exhausted is a word." Gwen replied.

"Gwen, I'm not sure if you noticed, but when you helped me up yesterday, I fell right into the pool." I said.

"Yes, I noticed." Gwen said.

 _You stay away from me kid, you let me do what I need to do. Or, I will kill everyone you love and then you. How does that sound?_ Vilgax's warning rang in my ears. _Who is Vilgax? What does he want with the watch? And... Animo? Animo thought I was Maxwell Tennyson, my grandpa. Well, Gwen's grandpa too. Could Vilgax know my grandpa, too? Only Grandpa Max will know the answer for that..._

"Ben?" Gwen asked, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

"What?" I asked, looking back at her.

"Your eyes glossed over for a few seconds." Gwen said. "Are you sure that you're alright?"

"Positive." I said, as I thought about what to do.

 _Grandpa Max would know what to do. I need his advice. For reasons unknown to me that twisted nut Animo knows my Grandpa Max and possibly Vilgax too. And I need to know why that is._

I walked past Gwen, stumbling a little bit more, towards my room. Once I was in my room, I slipped my phone in my pocket and grabbed my key ring, clipping it to my jeans. I put my shoes on, walked out of my room and almost ran right into Gwen.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." I said.

Instead of taking me seriously, Gwen just laughed.

"Go? Go where?" Gwen asked. "Your mom never told me you had anything to take care of while we were going to be spending two weeks together. Don't tell me that you're trying to get away from me!"

"I need to go talk to Grandpa Max." I said, ignoring her claims.

"Oh, cool! Can I go, too?" Gwen asked, as her emerald eyes lit up.

"No." I said.

"What? Why not?" Gwen asked, sounding angered.

"Because I need to have a talk with Grandpa. Just me and him." I said. "You wouldn't understand."

"Maybe if you told me, I would understand." Gwen said.

I decided to make up some bullshit story.

"Um, I've been having guy problems recently." I said. "And with my dad out of town, I don't know who else to talk to."

Gwen smirked. "What's the matter? Puberty hit you later than expected?" she asked.

"Screw you, Gwen." I said.

"Um, no thanks, we're cousins. So that would just be weird." Gwen said, as she continued smirking. "But thanks for the offer!"

My eyes nearly popped out of my sockets, to which Gwen laughed her ass off. A few seconds later, my face reverted back to the serious face I had on just seconds ago.

"Wow, Gwen. For a straight A student, I didn't think that you would have a dirty mind." I said.

"Oh, yeah? Well, what's the dirtiest thing that you can think of?" Gwen asked, still laughing.

I sighed. "This isn't a competition, dweeb." I said. "I'm leaving now. Catch up with you later."

I walked past her and back to the living room. I opened the door and walked outside.

"Lock the door after I leave." I said, as I closed it.

I walked down the concrete path that led away from the front door and towards the garage, where my bike was. I got onto it and pedaled off away from the house.

 _Gwen_

I walked into the kitchen after locking the door behind Ben. I opened one of the cabinets to get a glass out. I sat down the glass, as I bent over the sink, trying not to think about how angry with Ben I was.

"Damn it!" I exclaimed, as I slammed my fist onto the countertop. "Why does Ben always have to make things about hims-"

My voice trailed off, as I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I directed my full attention to what I saw. I was looking at the glass I had sat down, which was levitating above the counter, with a hot pink outline around it. Just as I looked at it, the outline disappeared and it slowly descended back to the countertop. I raised an eyebrow, as I focused on it and imagined the glass levitating.

And just like before, the pink outline appeared and the glass began to levitate again. I stopped focusing on it, and it stopped levitating.

"Hmm." I said, smirking as I rubbed my chin.

 _Ben_

 _Fifteen Minutes Later..._

I had made it to Grandpa Max's RV, the "Rustbucket", which was located in a suburban neighborhood. Funny thing was, Grandpa had his own house in this neighborhood, but he always preferred living in the Rustbucket. I got off of my bike, which I parked just outside his house. I walked over to the Rustbucket and knocked on the door.

Maybe ten or fifteen seconds later, the door opened and I was met with the sight of my grandfather, in all of his slightly overweight glory. Complete with his signature red hawaiian shirt, worn over a white T-shirt, slightly baggy tan cargo pants and hiking boots.

"Ben! It's so good to see you!" he exclaimed, as he pulled me into a hug.

The hug kind of crushed me. "Ack!" I exclaimed. "Likewise, Grandpa Max."

After pulling away from the hug, he looked at me.

"Now, what did you come all the way here for, Ben?" he asked.

"Um, do you have a place we could just sit down?" I asked. "This might take a while."

"Of course, we can sit at the picnic table in my backyard." Grandpa Max replied. "Follow me."

I followed him around to his backyard, where we sat down at the picnic table.

"Okay! What's on your mind, my boy?" Grandpa Max asked.

I thought about what I should start with. Eventually, I decided. "Grandpa, do you believe in aliens?" I asked.

Grandpa Max just stared at me for a few seconds, before roaring with laughter. "Oh, is that what you came to ask me about?" he asked. "Oh, don't tell me the teachers at your school have been feeding you a bunch of shit about Roswell."

"Grandpa, just answer the question." I said.

"Benjamin, listen to me. That was in 1947. That was still Harry S. Truman's time." he said. "All of that Area 51 crap is just a bucket of lies! And even in the 60's. Anything about time travel, men in black, alien spaceships, that's all a lie. So, no. I don't believe in aliens."

I smirked. "Oh, that's really interesting Grandpa. So, you wouldn't recognize the name. Vilgax?" I asked.

Grandpa's eyes widened and he got up. In only a matter of seconds, he grabbed me by my shoulder and started forcing me towards the Rustbucket. Once there, he pushed me into the Rustbucket, before stepping in himself, closing the door and locking it.

"Where did you hear that name?" he asked, as he started shutting the blinds in the Rustbucket.

"I asked you a question." I said. "You answer mine, and I answer yours."

"Fair enough." Grandpa Max replied. "Vilgax is an alien overlord, obsessed with gathering all kinds of weaponry and genetic technology. Now, where did you hear that name?"

"Grandpa," I said, as I got up. "I hate to ask another question, but have you been following the news?"

He nodded. "Well, not yesterday. Why?" he asked.

"Gwen and I are spending two weeks together. And yesterday, we went to the new Riptide Rapids Zone water park. A giant calling himself Vilgax attacked and said something about an "Omnitrix"." I said.

"What do you know about the Omnitrix?" he asked.

"He said that this thing," I spoke as I took off the alien watch and switched it out of it's camo mode. "is the Omnitrix."

Grandpa Max gasped when he saw it. "Son, what have you gotten yourself into? You're that "Alien guy" on the news, aren't you?"

I nodded, with a grim look on my face.

"Then you made the right move not bringing Gwen with you." he said. That's when his eyes widened.

"Speaking of Gwen, she takes pictures of your alien forms. I've seen the papers! We have to warn her! She doesn't know what she up's against!" he said, as he moved for driver's seat.

I rushed towards the driver's seat, quickly blocking it from him.

"No, please!" I exclaimed. "You can't tell Gwen!"

Grandpa Max raised an eyebrow. "Why?" he asked.

"Because she thinks that she is in love with my alter ego." I said.

"What's so wrong about that?" he asked.

"Um, because we're cousins?" I asked. "And I feel like if she found out, that she would never be able to take it. I feel like it would destroy her life. Our friendship would never be the same. So, please, please, _please_! Don't tell Gwen!"

Grandpa Max's facial expression didn't change. "Okay, Alien Guy." he said.

"Can I ask you another question?" I asked.

"Of course." he said.

"Who is Doctor Animo?" I asked.

"He was a biological terrorist back in the day." Grandpa Max replied, as he stood there thinking. He passed the alien watch back to me and I noticed it was still arcing red electricity. I sighed and put it back on my wrist and switched it back to camo mode.

"Biological terrorist? What is going on? What else have you been hiding from me? What the fuck is the Omnitrix?!" I exclaimed.

Grandpa Max stood there for a good minute. "Ben, I think it's time that I introduce you to the world of the plumbers." he said.

 _Four Hours Later..._

I walked up to my door and unlocked it. I opened the door, walked in and closed the door behind me. I saw Gwen sitting on the couch, with her knees drawn to her chest.

"That was a really long time, just to talk about "guy stuff"." Gwen said, as I walked through the door.

"Yeah, so what?" I asked.

"Nothing." Gwen said. "How was the talk?"

"Enlightening." I said.

"What?" Gwen asked. "How can a "guy stuff" talke be enlightening?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't have to tell you. You're girl and that would just be weird." I said.

"Can we go to the park?" Gwen asked, just out of the blue.

I looked at her funny.

"What?" I asked.

"I asked if we could go to the park." she said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I want to go for a walk." Gwen said.

I thought about it.

"Sure, I guess." I said, as I walked towards my room. "Give me a minute and we'll go."

A/N: So, that was the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed! I had fun writing Grandpa Max's character for this story, I hope you like this story's version of him. As for the plumbers, they were referenced towards the end of the chapter, but they aren't officialy part of the story yet. What did you think of the scene where Ben lies to Gwen about having "guy problems"? Anyway, in the next chapter Ben and Gwen are going to the park, and thanks to csgt for the idea, this will be the first instance where Ben actually risks himself to defend Gwen. So, like I said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please favorite and follow this story, as it helps out. Also, please review or PM me if you have questions. I will answer any questions you have on the story. So, with that said, I'm going to go though, so have a good night and bye.


	8. Chapter 8: Reveal

Chapter 8: Reveal

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter eight! I had to use a different method to get this chapter up, so if it looks different, then that's probably why. I forgot to mention, that in the last chapter, when the talk between Ben and Grandpa Max cut off, the rest of their conversation will continue through flashback sequences as the story goes on. So, the only thing I'll really say about this chapter is that Ben is going to get more than a little pissed off. So, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and let's get on with it! Oh and all of you Bwen fans should really stick around to the end of the chapter!

 _Ben_

Gwen and I were walking through the park. Just the two of us.

"What do you think of that Alien Guy? From the news?" Gwen asked.

 _You're thinking about her again. You can't get her out of your head, so why don't you do something about it?_

"Um, I don't know what to think of him." I said. "I think he means well, but I also think he's not doing his job the way he should."

"I think he is just confused. He doesn't know what he's doing." Gwen said.

"Uh-huh." I said.

"What about that giant alien thing that attacked the water park?" Gwen asked.

"Dangerous. Shouldn't be fighting him alone. Even if it is just Alien Guy fighting him by himself, I feel like he'll need some help." I said.

"Agreed." Gwen said.

 _Why do you continue to deny your feelings for her? The plans we've made, you don't go through with them. And after that fight with Vilgax, you should be protective over her._

"How's Grandpa Max doing?" Gwen asked.

I looked at her, as I nodded. "Good. He's doing really good." I said.

We walked in silence for a while.

What if she keeps taking pictures of us, now that Vilgax is in the picture? You need to talk her out of it.

"Gwen?" I asked.

"Hmm?" Gwen responded.

"I don't think you'll like what I have to say." I said.

"Just say it." Gwen said.

"I think you should quit taking pictures of Alien Guy." I said.

"Why?" Gwen asked.

I stopped in front of her, stopping her as well. I looked into her eyes.

"Think about it, Gwen. You're living in Peter Parker's world." I said.

"What?" Gwen asked, shaking her hands above her head.

"In the Spider-Man comic books, Peter Parker get's paid for taking pictures of himself as Spider-Man. Well, his employers don't know that part." I said. "Gwen, you are still taking pictures of Alien Guy while he's in his darkest hour. Have you considered stopping? Or at least taking a break?"

Gwen stood there thinking. As she stood there, I continued staring into her emerald colored eyes. Gwen looked up at me and said something, but I didn't hear her.

 _Admit it._

Gwen snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"What?" I asked.

"I said, 'Maybe you're right'." Gwen said.

I nodded.

"Besides, Alien Guy is living in a dangerous world. Don't you agree?" Gwen asked.

 _Admit it. You are in love with her. Will you admit that you love this young woman in front of you? You do admit it, don't you?_

"I do." I said, answering both questions.

I noticed a guy, not too far behind Gwen, walking like he was drunk. And it looked like he was trailing us.

I returned to Gwen's side and leaned over to her ear.

"Look alive, there's some drunk guy following us." I whispered to her.

Gwen just shook her head, and I saw her smirk.

"I hate people sometimes, you know that?" she asked.

"Me too, me too." I said.

We continued walking for maybe a few minutes. We walked for maybe a few minutes, before we were interrupted. That drunk guy, some how caught up to us.

"Hey baby, why don't you come home with me, tonight?" the guy asked, as his speech slurred.

"What the hell?" Gwen asked, as she turned to look at him.

"Ditch this guy, this wallflower!" the guy said, as he pushed me out of the way and onto the ground.

I got back up as the guy gripped Gwen's forearm and as she slapped his hand.

"I'm only going to ask you once to back off fella." I said.

"Fuck off!" the guy said.

I ran over to him and grabbed the back of the baggy jacket he was wearing and began to pull.

"Don't make me angry, pal! You wouldn't like me when I'm angry!" I exclaimed.

The guy elbowed me in the jaw with his free hand, sending me face down into the grass.

"Ben! Ben! Get up and help me!" Gwen exclaimed.

I didn't get up, I just laid there for a few seconds. I don't know what was coming over me, but I was angry and angrier than I've ever remembered myself being. I finally pushed myself up faster than I thought I could and turned to look at the guy trying to sexually assault Gwen. I gritted my teeth and let out a guttural growl, as if I was some kind of feral beast.

I got up and ran over to the guy faster than I thought I could. I grabbed the back of his jacket and ripped him off and away from Gwen, turning him so he was facing me.

"What the fu-" Was all the guy could say, before I punched him the jaw, sending him to the ground.

"Big mistake, pal." I said, still very angry.

"I'll show you a big mistake!" the guy said, as he got up and ran towards me.

He ran over to punch me, but I elbowed him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Then I punched him in the jaw again, sending back to the ground. Before he could get back up I walked over to him and pinned him down my putting my foot on his chest. I kneeled down and started punching him in the face, literally as hard as I could.

"Don't touch my cousin! My cousin! My cousin, not yours!" I exclaimed as I kept punching him, and as I noticed that my voice got deeper and more harsh with every word. "My cousin! Mine, not yours! Mine! Mine! All mine!"

 _Good. Now kill him. Do it. Make him sorry for what he tried to do to Gwen. Do it!_

My eyes widened just a little, as I realized what I was doing. I had to stop this. And I had to do it now.

By now, this guy's face was so bloodied up, that I couldn't even recognize the guy's face. I drew back my fist as I began to speak.

"Listen to me, you speck of indecent human trash," I said, as I pointed at Gwen. "If you ever touch that young woman again, next time, I will not stop. Do you understand me?"

No answer.

"Do you understand me?!" I screamed at him.

"Yes." he said, his voice barely above a whisper, slurring the entire word.

Just for good measure, I punched him in the face one last time, as hard as I possible could. I stood up and shook my hand, getting both my blood and the drunk guy's blood off. I was pretty sure I had broken a knuckle or two. I turned to look at Gwen, who was covering her mouth, while a few tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked terrified.

"Gwen?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

Gwen said nothing, so I approached her and gently put my good hand on her shoulder.

Gwen quickly pulled away from my touch, even more tears rolling down her cheeks.

When I went to grab her again, she backed away. So, I just stopped and stood where I was. Eventually, she started to slowly back away and then eventually turned, and started to run away. I just stood there, itching my head and realizing that it was safe to say: I screwed up.

 _Four And A Half Hours Earlier..._

"Plumbers? What are plumbers? You can't possibly be talking about actual plumbers!" I said.

"No, I don't mean actual plumbers." Grandpa Max replied.

"Than what are they?" I asked, as I walked over to the table and sat down at the booth.

"Back in '47, after the uh, Roswell Incident, we started to see lots of alien activity on the planet. And eventually, we saw the arrival of the most brutal, unforgiving alien species on Earth. The Chimera Sui Generis, as well as the brutal, blood thirsty leader." he said.

"Vilgax." I said.

Grandpa Max shook his head. "Vilgax came later. And I wasn't even a part of the plumbers yet. Hell, the plumbers didn't even exist yet."

"Who was leader at that time?" I asked.

Grandpa shrugged. "I don't know." he said. "They came to Earth, for a rare element that they ran out of on their planet. They managed to find it in the catacombs of France. And they started digging for more of it, making excavation sites down there. We and the French went down there, to see what was up. That caused war between the two species."

"Why were they looking for this element?" I asked.

"It was some powerful element, that would provide power for their W.M.D.s." Grandpa Max replied.

"So, their nukes?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Their weapons aren't nukes. Their weapons destroy entire planets." he said.

"So, Death Stars?" I asked.

"Very funny. Anyway, we waged war from late 1947 to early 1965." Grandpa Max replied. "The only reason the war ended was because of a peace treaty. We weren't to go to their planet and they were supposed to leave and never come back."

"What happened next?" I asked, craving more from the story.

"The plumbers were created after the peace treaty. I was eighteen at the time and I was one of the original six. I was one of the founders. And you want to hear something really funny? We were called the 'plumbers', because the main guy was a plumber before all of it happened!" Grandpa Max exclaimed, as he laughed.

I chuckled. I thought for a minute.

"Okay. I have another question." I said.

"Okay, shoot." Grandpa Max said.

 _Five Hours Later..._

I walked up the concrete path to my house, where Gwen was sitting, with her knees drawn up to her chest.

"Gwen?" I asked, as I slowly approached her.

She looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

I got on my knee in front of her, looking into her eyes.

"Gwen?" I asked again. "It's me. It's Ben. It's me, I swear."

She slowly got up and so did I. She sniffled and another tear rolled down her cheek. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"Oh, Ben!" she said, as she threw her arms around me, hugging me.

She put her face against my chest and began to cry.

"I'm scared." I could barely hear her say.

I hugged her back, as she continued to cry.

"Me too." I said, as I began to cry myself. "Me too."

I cried, as I thought about what I had done just barely half an hour ago.

 _My God. What the fuck have I done?_

One Hour Later...

I winced in pain, as Gwen cleaned the wound on my hand. Once she had calmed down, we ate dinner, it was difficult, with my damaged watch hand, but we did eat. Then, Gwen told me to go wash my hands with soap and hot water. Then, she'd clean it, stitch it if had to be stitched and bandage it.

"You'll be lucky if you don't have a couple broken knuckles, which I don't think you do." Gwen said. "Jesus, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I don't think I was thinking." Ben said. "I just saw that man trying to take you from me and I fucking lost it."

Gwen said nothing, as she bandaged my hand.

Then, something crossed my mind.

"Gwen," I said, as a few tears rolled down my cheeks. "am I crazy?"

Gwen looked up at me, as she finished up. "No. I think you're sane. You were just protecting me. Why do you ask?"

"Gwen, I almost killed a man today." I said.

"Was it justified?"

"I think so."

"Then you're not crazy."

"You're sure?" I asked.

"Stop asking." she said, as she got up with the first aid kit.

After a few seconds, I spoke. "No one's taking you away from me." I said, under my breath.

"Did you say something?" Gwen asked.

"No." I said, as I got up and walked into the living room, where she was sitting on the couch.

"That reminds me. While you were fighting that guy, you said, 'My cousin, mine not yours. Mine, mine'." Gwen said. "What did you mean?"

I smirked, as I stood in front of her.

"Gwen, do I really need to spell it out for you?" I asked. "You are mine. You are and always will be."

Gwen got up in front of me. "Ben, you're not making any sense." she said.

"Okay, let me be a little more clear with you." I said. "We may be cousins, but that doesn't mean a damn thing."

"What?" she asked.

I laughed. "Gwen, look, I-" I cut myself off. "How can I explain it?"

"You're mine. What does it mean?" Gwen asked.

"You are mine." I said, as I grabbed her shoulders.

A look of surprise and maybe fear came to her eyes.

"You getting it?" I asked.

"I think so, yes." she said, still looking surprised and fearful.

I gripped her arms just above her elbows and pulled her closer to me, so that our bodies were touching.

"Ben, you don't have to do this." Gwen said, as I moved my lips closer to hers.

"I know I don't." I said. "But I want to."

Then, I pressed my lips against hers, kissing her.

A/N: So, that's the end of the chapter. What did you guys think? I'm pretty sure you Bwen fans at least liked the last four lines, if not loved them. But, just because Ben kissed Gwen? That doesn't mean anything. Gwen can react anyway she wants. So, keep that in mind. I want to go over a couple of minor villains that will be appearing later in the story. I want to somehow introduce Hex and Charmcaster into the story, and I definitely know that Kevin 11 is eventually going to make his way into the story. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And if you did, please favorite and follow the story. Opinions? PM or review, that's how you get to me. I'm going to go though, so have a good day and bye.


	9. Chapter 9: Rejection

Chapter 9: Rejection

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter 9! I hope all of you have been enjoying the story so far, because this chapter is going to be a little serious. For Ben in this chapter, there will be a little more drama added to his daily life. He will not be getting the intended reaction from Gwen that he hoped he would get after kissing her. She's not going to be mad, ashamed of Ben or anything, you really have to just read to find out what's going to happen. So, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Anyways, let's get into it!

 _Ben_

I continued to hold Gwen against me as I kissed her. She didn't kiss me back. Well, she didn't kiss me back right away. But eventually, she did give in and she began to kiss me back. It wasn't exactly a pashion-filled kiss. I don't know what it was. When I look back on it, I realize that I had no idea what I was doing.

We didn't kiss for long, no more than minute, maybe just for thirty seconds. I eventually pulled away from Gwen, letting go of her arms as well. I backed away from Gwen, leaving her with a look of shock on her face.

"Um, thanks?" Gwen asked. "But why?"

"Because I love you, Gwen." I said.

"Yeah, I know. I got that feeling when you kissed me." Gwen said. "There's just one problem here, Ben."

"Yeah, what's the problem?" I asked.

"Oh, boy." Gwen whispered. "There's another guy."

I just stood there, staring at Gwen in shock. And trying to process what she had just said. Eventually what she had said clicked with me.

"Of course there's another guy." I whispered.

"Of course there's another guy!" I yelled angrily, as I punched the wall with my injured hand, as hard as I could.

"Agh! Shit!" I exclaimed, as I felt pain course through my bandaged hand. I gripped my hand with my other hand, but that didn't lessen the pain.

"Ben! Are you alright?!" Gwen asked, as she rushed over to me, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" I exclaimed in deeper voice, as I pulled away from her grip.

 _Who? Who has won Gwen's heart? My Gwen. My Gwen! Not his!_

I turned to look at Gwen, who looked scared.

"Who? Who's the other guy?" I asked, as I stepped up to her.

"Alien Guy. It's Alien Guy." Gwen said. "The vigilante."

I almost started laughing. I almost smiled, too. But I didn't.

 _Of course it's Alien Guy. Of course it's my alter ego that she's in love with. I should have known. She practically confirmed it herself! I could just tell her that I am him. But, no. She couldn't live that life of having to keep my secret and she wouldn't believe me either._

"Gwen, don't you realize I would do anything for you? I would go through hell and back for you!" I said. "All of the things I've done for you and you can't realize that?"

Gwen simply smiled. "Of course, I realize that, Doofus. And I appreciate that." she said.

"Why do you think I do all of these things for you, Gwen?" I asked.

"Um, because we're cousins?" Gwen asked.

"No, Dweeb. Because I-I-" I cut myself off as I sighed, preparing myself for what I would say next. "Gwen, I love you. I'm in love with you. I don't know how long it took for me to realize it, but I finally did. I love you, Gwen."

Gwen smiled a sort of sad smile. "You're in denial, Doofus. You aren't in love with me." she said. "I don't know how to say it. You just wish you were him."

 _You just wish you were him, you just wish you were him, you just wish you were him._

I began to have flashes of those awful memories in my head, the day after Kai and I broke up, I saw her with another guy. And that's exactly what she said when I asked to get back together. _You just wish you were him._ That's actually how I ended up finding the alien watch.

I was depressed for a while after all of that conflict with Kai and one night in November, I went for a walk in the woods behind my house. And wouldn't you know it, that's where I found the alien watch, in a crash site in the woods! And thus, a month or so later, Alien Guy was born! I swore to dedicate my spare time to use the power to fight crime!

"Ben?" Gwen asked, sounding concerned.

I looked back up at her, still very angry.

"Yeah, you're right," I said, as I turned and walked down the hall to my room. "I do wish that I was him."

I walked into my room, slipped my shoes on, clipped my key ring to my jeans, grabbed my walled, slipping it into my back pocket and put my jacket on. I walked back out of my room and walked right past Gwen.

"If you thing I'm going to let you out of this house, with possibly two broken knuckles, you can-" Gwen started to speak, as I heard her follow me, but I cut her off.

"Watch me." I said, as I opened the door and walked out.

I didn't even bother to close the door, as I walked for my bike. I got onto it, and pedaled away into the early evening.

 _Six Hours Earlier..._

"You mentioned that Animo was a biological terrorist. What does that mean?" I asked.

"It started back in the late seventies with Animo. He wasn't known by that name back then." Grandpa Max replied. "A young man name Aloysius James Animo was put onto a scientific research team."

I leaned forward.

"Animo was a scientist? Seriously?" I asked.

"Seriously. Dr. Animo was on a research team, trying to rewrite the human genome. They were trying to make a serum that would create super soldiers." Grandpa Max replied. "Early into the eighties, maybe 1982, he was the first one to create a serum. The rest of the team insisted that he handed it over so they could test it on lab rats, but, no. He had to himself."

"What happened?" I asked.

"He went and tested it on himself. The serum made him stronger, faster, smarter. But it came with a cost. Animo quickly lost his sanity." Grandpa Max replied.

"That doesn't surprise me." I said.

"It shouldn't." Grandpa Max said. "Anyway, his insanity made him easier to pick off. So he was quickly put behind bars. The bars of the Null Void that is."

"What's the Null Void?" I asked.

 _Six And A Half Hours Later..._

After leaving the house, I stopped by a gas station and picked up a twelve pack of Coca-Cola. If you could drink yourself to death with Coca-Cola, then that's what I planned to do tonight. After that, I pedaled down to the Club House.

Once I got in, I turned all of the lights in the place on and closed the door behind me and locked it. I'm glad I got into the Club House when I did, because it was beginning to rain and thunder outside.

I might've forgot to mention that we also had a mini fridge, as well as all of the work out equipment in the Club House. I put the pack of Coke in there, opened it and grabbed one for myself, regardless of it being warm or not. I cracked it open while getting a cd case from off of my cd rack. My second favorite, right after the Beatles' Abbey Road.

My second favorite, which was in my hand, is Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits. I walked over to the cd player, while taking a drink from the can in my hand. I put the can down on the table where the cd player sat. I opened the case and put the cd into the player. After it loaded, the first song on the cd, Blitzkrieg Bop began to play and I turned the volume up to it's highest setting.

When my dad, my friends and I built this place a few years ago, the material we used to build the walls was very thick, so anyone outside could barely hear the music, except maybe if they pressed their ear against the door.

I walked over to he punching bag, with my can of Coke in hand. I sat it down on a table near the punching bag and started throwing punches. I was pissed off for Gwen rejecting me, well Alien Guy, without even knowing it. And I needed to hit something. Even with my right hand the way it was, it didn't really hurt much.

Ever since I had gotten the alien watch, it seems as though my skin is harder to break through. So like I said, punching the bag didn't really hurt, even with my messed up right hand.

 _Thirty Minutes Later..._

After about four or five songs and two or three cans of soda, I paused the music to go use the bathroom. After I had taken a leak, I was standing at the sink, to wash my hands. But, I wasn't washing my hands, I was just standing there, staring into the mirror and gripping the sink so hard, that my knuckles turned white.

As I was staring into the mirror, there was a flash of lightning from outside the window, which illimunated the dimly lit room. The flash lit up the mirror as well, showing me my reflection. Only, it wasn't my reflection. I was staring back at a dark gray skinned version of myself, with silver colored hair and glowing red eyes. Also, he had the most evil grin on his face. This reflection was only there for a split second, but I knew I hadn't imagined it.

Because whenever I closed my eyes, I could still see those glowing red eyes. Once the reflection passed and I could see my normal self again, I was left in awe.

 _Oh my God. What's happening to me?_

A/N: So, there's the chapter. What did you think? This is pretty much the plot twist of the story, that Gwen is in love with Ben's alter ego. What did you think of their conversation over that subject? Was it okay for Ben to completely flip out? And Gwen didn't believe Ben the first time when he told her that he was Alien Guy. So, was he right to get angry over the whole thing? What about the reflection he saw at the end of the chapter? What did you think about that? Well, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. If you did, please favorite and follow the story. If you want to review or PM me about your opinion, that'd be great. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.


	10. Chapter 10: How NOT To Cope With Anger

Chapter 10: How NOT To Cope With Anger

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter ten! So, for the last couple chapters, Ben has been an emotional mess. And it's not going to get any better anytime soon. This chapter is probably the turning point for Ben. And he also might come to realize that the Omnitrix is making him a much darker person that he originally sought out to be. So, I hope you guys have enjoyed the story so far. But anyway, let's get into it!

 _Ben_

 _The Next Morning..._

It was about nine in the morning and I was still hitting the bag, while listening to Come Together, by the Beatles' very own John Lennon. I hadn't even gotten any sleep last night. It was pretty much just me hitting the bag all night.

Had I stopped thinking about Gwen? Not at all. I couldn't get her out of my head. I still couldn't figure out what the hell that thing was that I had seen in the mirror. I had also gone through ten of the Cokes, all ten empty cans sitting on counter, near all the cupboards and stuff.

Late last night, I took off my shirt, since it was getting so hot in here. I had also since taken off the alien watch, since I wasn't using it and put it on the table. I was punching the bag pretty hard, when I heard the door unlock. I walked over to the cd player and lowered the volume a little.

The door opened, and I saw Gwen standing in the doorway. Kind of relieved it wasn't one of my friends, I walked back over to the bag and started punching it again.

I heard Gwen step into the Club House.

"How many have you had?" Gwen asked.

I looked to what she saw. The ten empty Coca-Cola cans on the counter.

"Not enough. How'd you find me?" I asked, as I kept punching the bag.

"I found index cards with several addresses written down in a filing cabinet in your mom and dad's room." Gwen said, as I heard her walk further into the Club House.

"You shouldn't be snooping around my house." I said, as I continued punching the bag. "How'd you get in?"

"Spare key under the mat?" Gwen asked, as she looked around. "So, this is the club house?"

"What do you think?" I asked. "What are you even doing here?"

"You didn't come home last night. I've been worried." Gwen said.

"Don't be. Now, why are you here?" I asked.

"We need to talk." Gwen said.

"We don't have to talk about shit!" I exclaimed, as I went back to punching the bag.

"Ben, I-" Gwen began to speak, but I cut her off.

"Let me stop you there!" I exclaimed, punching the bag with huge amounts of force. "I worked up so much courage to kiss you last night! And you can't even repay me with the feelings I wanted! You can't respect my feelings or the courage I worked up to kiss you!"

"I respect you. More than you would ever know." Gwen said.

"Yeah right." I replied.

"No Ben, really!" Gwen exclaimed. "You need to listen to me! I respect for having that courage! I just don't return your feelings!"

I looked at her, saying nothing.

"Ben, I really don't think that you are in love with me." Gwen said. "You just wish that yo-"

She was about to say those damned seven words and I lost it.

"No!" I exclaimed, punching the bag so hard, that it flew off of it's chain. Gwen jumped with shock and fright as I did this. "You don't say that! You can't say those seven words!

Gwen looked confused. "What words? You just wish t-" she began to speak, but I cut her off.

"Yes! Those words!" I exclaimed, as I kicked the downed punching bag.

"Okay. What's the significance behind those seven words?" she asked.

I walked over to the counter and sat down on one of the bar stools, my forehead sweating from the anger and workout I was experiencing.

"Before you came back into my life, there was another young lady. Kai Greene." I said.

"What happened with her?" Gwen asked.

"We broke up, just out of the blue. We had dated for several months, when she just cut it off." I said. "I was confused then, but I wasn't emotionally devastated yet."

"What happened?" she asked.

"The next day, I saw her walking and holding hands with another guy. When she was alone, I went to ask her if we could give our relationship one more try." I said. "And she said: "You just wish that you were him." God damn it, I hate those words!"

"I'm sorry. Truly." Gwen said.

I looked up at her, as I teared up.

"Don't ever be sorry, Gwen." I said. "After what you did to me, you don't deserve to feel sorry or my forgiveness."

"But, I am sorry." Gwen said.

"Nah. You ain't sorry." I replied, as I went to the fridge.

I opened the fridge and grabbed a Coke, cracking it open. I sighed, as I though about the reaction from Gwen, when I would say what I had on my mind. I took a drink and let out a sigh of relief.

"Go home Gwen." I said.

"Okay." she said. "I'll see you later when you get back."

"No, no." I said, as I got up to look at her. "You misunderstand Gwen. _Go home._ "

Gwen looked confused. "What?" she asked.

"I need you and your stuff out of my house by the time I get back." I said, turning back around. "I just can't live under the same roof with you after what happened."

Gwen said nothing.

"If it matters Gwen, I wasn't lying. And I'm not in denial, Gwen. I really do love you." I said.

Gwen said nothing again.

"Gwen?" I asked, as I turned around.

She was gone, door wide open.

"Shit." I said, as I walked over and kicked the punching bag again.

 _Two And A Half Hours Later..._

"Gwen, I'm home!" I exclaimed, as I walked in through the front door.

Gwen didn't answer as I closed the door behind me.

"Gwen?" I asked.

Something was wrong. The house was eerily silent. She wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. I walked down the hall to where her room was. I knocked on her door.

"Gwen?" I asked, as I knocked.

She didn't answer. And as much as I respected her privacy, I checked the knob, finding it unlocked. I opened the door and found myself in shock. She wasn't in her room either. And her bed was made, along with all of her things gone.

"Oh, no. No, no, no." I said, as I walked to my room.

I walked into my room and grabbed my lab key.

"Gwen!" I called, as I sprinted down the hallway.

I sprinted down the basement stairs, calling her name the whole way. I turned on all the lights in the basement, not seeing Gwen anywhere.

I ran to the lab door, unlocked and opened it. I flicked on the light to the lab, not surprised that Gwen wasn't in here either. And I think I knew where she was.

"She did what I said." I replied, as I stood there, as I dropped my key.

I was beginning to cry and I let it happen.

 _Happy now? Your little outburst trashed whatever bit of happiness you had._

"She did what I said!" I screamed, as I ran over to one of the tables and pushed the microscope off in a fit of rage.

"She did what I said!" I screamed again, as I cleared the table of all the papers.

I flipped the table over, letting out a scream as I did. I grabbed the tape recorder and threw it acroos the room. I grabbed the glass container that held all of my tapes, picked it up and let out a scream of fury as I threw it to the other side of the room. It smashed against the wall, ruining the container but maybe leaving the tapes intact.

Ten minutes and a completely destroyed lab later, I sitting against the wall, tears streaming down my cheeks. The floor was covered in lab papers, the filing cabinet tipped over, the room was a mass.

Eventually, I got up, turned the lights out and walked out of the basement and back up the stairs. I walked into the kitchen to get a drink, after my grade A outburst, when I noticed something. There was a note on the table. I picked it up and began to read it. There was a phone number on it and underneath that:

 _Ben, I'm sorry it had to come to this. If you ever need anything or want to apologize, don't hesitate to call me. - Gwen_

My phone was on the couch, in the living room. I ran for it, tripped and hit my head on the tile floor. I ignored the pain in my head and got back up. I ran for my phone and grabbed it. I opened the number pad and dialed the phone number that was on the note. It started to ring and after five or six rings it went to voice mail.

"Gwen Tennyson, please leave a message." the recording said.

After the beep I spoke.

"Come back! I'm sorry about what I said earlier, okay? I didn't mean what I said! Please, come back Gwen! I'm sorry! I don't think I can be alone! I need you here! Please, just come back! Just come back." I exclaimed, as I continued to cry.

After that, I sent the message. In a fit of anger and sadness, I tossed my phone to the couch and sat down, leaning against it.

"Just come back." I said.

"Ben." I heard a voice.

I looked up, to see Gwen standing in the doorway, with the front door open. I hadn't locked it. I couldn't sum up the courage to speak. I now noticed that she had her phone in her hand.

 _Had she heard my message, as I was speaking it?_

"Ben, just calm down." she said, as she smiled. "Calm down. Everything is going to be okay. I promise."

A/N: So, what did you think of the chapter? I know I had already posted another today, but I wanted to do another and I had one ready to go. In case you are wondering if Gwen as actually there at the end, and if Ben was just hallucinating, no. She was there. She was actually there. Just because she's back doesn't mean that Ben is stable, mentally anyway. He's not completely sane and over time, his mental health will decline even more, until he and Gwen finally get together, whenever that'll be. I'd like to mention that Kevin 11 will be coming to the story here pretty soon. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this one and, I'll see you in the next one.


	11. Chapter 11: Kevin 11: Part One

Chapter 11: Kevin 11: Part 1

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter eleven! I know that the last two chapters have been bad for Ben and I promise that this chapter will be giving Ben a break from all of that. In the last chapter, I had mentioned that Kevin 11 will be coming to the story, and I wasn't kidding. Not only will he be referenced, but he will be making his debut in this chapter! Also, a couple chapters ago, Gwen discovered that she had mana abilities. That may make you curious if or not Lucky Girl is going to be in the story. I won't confirm when, but she will be in the story. This chapter is really for Gwen to help Ben cope with his increasingly difficult anger problem. And she'll get help with that (more on that later). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and let's get into it!

 _Ben_

 _Early The Next Morning..._

I let out a gasp of shock, as I sprang up in my bed. I had some kind of twisted nightmare. And Kevin Levin, my best friend since second grade, had been in it. That's all I could remember. I sat there in my bed, exhaling and inhaling at a ridiculous speed, due to the fright of the nightmare.

I noticed my hand was on someone else's hand. I looked over to my right, to see Gwen asleep under the covers, on the other side of the bed. I remembered now, that late last night, she came in while I was getting ready for bed, claiming that I couldn't be alone in my current state.

I argued with her, claimed that I was fine (when in reality, I was distraught), but in the end, she won the arguement. She said that I couldn't be left alone, and wether I liked it or not, she would be at my side 24/7 until I was sane again. And so, that's how we ended up in the same bed.

I let out a sigh, as I kicked off the covers. I flung my legs over the side of the bed and just sat there for a minute, staring at my charging phone. She claimed sleeping with me was for the sake of my mental health. But honestly, I thought that was bullshit. What I thought was, that she returned my romantic feelings one hundred percent, but she wasn't ready to admit it yet.

My phone told me that it was four thirty in the morning. And this wasn't any time to go back to sleep. Letting out a quiet sigh, I got up from my bed and quietly walked to the door, and opened it. I walked out into the hallway, then down the hallway, through the living room and into the kitchen. I needed to get a drink of water, so I got a glass from one of the cabinets.

I began to fill it up, from the refrigerator's water supply, when I heard footsteps coming from the hallway. I took a drink from the glass as I stood in front of the kitchen table, staring down at the newspaper that had been there for days now.

 _Hero or Menace? What a joke._ , I thought, as I read the headline again. I heard Gwen walk into the kitchen. Not saying anything, I felt her hug herself against my back a few seconds later. Wrapping her arms around my neck, Gwen yawned before she spoke.

"You doing okay?" she asked.

I put my glass down on the kitchen table.

"What do you think?" I asked, in a monotone voice.

"I think you need to turn around so I can look at you." Gwen said, as she let go of me.

I slowly turned around and looked at her. Her signature red hair, which she had a serious case of bedhead by the way, her emerald colored eyes glowing in the dimly lit room. Well, maybe that's just me being too perceptive.

Now that she could look at me, she stepped closer. She eventually hugged me, and she hugged me tight. Not seeing what else to do, I hugged her back.

"Everything is going to be okay." Gwen said.

"So, you say." I replied. "You're just telling me what I want to hear."

"No. You need to hear that. This isn't the end of the world." Gwen said. "You're my baby cousin, Ben. And I am going to be here for you in your time of need."

I chuckled. "Gwen, you're only a couple minutes older than me." I said, as I pulled away enough to look at her face. "And what I need is you."

I went to kiss her, but she must have seen it coming. She pulled away from the hug, and put her finger on my lips.

"Ben, we talked about that. I told you that you can't do that." she said. "And now is not the time or the place to have the rest of that talk."

I stepped away from her, turning around as I did. I sighed, as I put my hand over my mouth. I turned around, to look at her.

"Is it because we're cousins?" I asked in a calm voice. "Because I already told you that I don't care if we're cousins."

Gwen shook her head. "No." she said, just as calmly as I had spoke. "I already told you that I'm in love with someone else. I'm in love with Alien Guy."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Let me just stop this conversation here, Gwen. I made it clear that I don't believe you. And that's all I'm going to say until we have the rest of this talk. Cool?" I asked.

"Cool." Gwen said.

I smiled. "Alright." I said, as I walked to the basement stairs. "Then there is nothing else that needs to be said about it."

"Where are you going? I told you that you can't be alone!" Gwen called.

"It's four in the morning Gwen!" I called back. "You should be asleep!"

"So should you!"

"Nah, I'll be okay!"

I walked down the stairs and into the game room to play some more Halo, when I noticed the door to the lab open and my key sitting on the carpet. The memories of myself completely destroying yesterday were now fresh in my mind. I stepped into the room and flicked the light on. I sighed, as I fought back tears.

"Is that the lab that Alien Guy told me about?" I heard a voice.

I turned around, to see Gwen behind me. I sniffled, as I nodded.

"You want me to help you clean up?" she asked.

It was a nice of her to offer, I'll admit it. I decided not to question how she knew Alien Guy, besides I knew anyway, and she knew that I didn't want to hear his name anymore than I had to.

"Yeah, but not right now." I said, as I flicked off the lights, closed and locked the door.

"Play some early morning video games?" Gwen asked.

I smiled.

"Yeah, okay. Okay." I said, as I moved to the couch.

 _Two Days Earlier..._

"The Null Void is a multi-dimensional prison deep in the recesses of the plumber base." Grandpa Max replied. "No one gets in or out without the plumbers' say so. Well, that was the case. Until 1986 that is."

"What happened?" I asked.

"Animo. He broke out. Somehow he managed to get out." he said. "And it surprised us when he mutated himself into some kind of giant, with a vastly increased muscle structure as well as razor-sharp talons in place of his fingers."

"How did he do that?" I asked. "And when did he do that?"

"We didn't know at first how he did it. And he did it as soon as he got up. He nearly ended the Plumbers. I don't even recall how we stopped him. A lot of good men and women died that day." Grandpa Max said.

"Grandpa, focus! How did Animo do it?!" I asked.

"We managed to revert him back to his human form. And while he was out, we ran multiple tests on him. Some of them all at once." Grandpa Max recalled. "We discovered something disturbing. That serum he took? It was rewriting his DNA structure. Making him inhuman. We didn't notice that he had woken up, not until he impaled one of our scientists on one of his finger talons."

"Animo killed lots of people." I said.

"That he certainly did." Grandpa Max said. "Anyway, we ended taking the last resort and gassed the observation room that he was in, and put him under. And from then, he was kept in cryogenic suspension, since the Null Void wasn't enough. I guess he must have escaped recently some how, I just don't know how. What's next?"

I grinned. "Simple." I said, as I pointed at the Omnitrix. "What the hell is this thing?"

 _Present Day_

I heard a knock at the door, as I sat on the couch with Gwen, watching T.V. I jumped up before Gwen could even react.

"Don't worry, I'll get it!" I said, as I walked to the door.

I opened it, to see four of friends standing there, all sporting the same grins. My two good friends that I met in sixth grade, J.T. and Cash, J.T. having curly brown hair and Cash having short black hair. J.T was also wearing his Harry Potter glasses, I always called them that, because the lenses were round. My best friend since second grade, Kevin Levin standing with them.

Kevin had his signature near shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes. Gwen's brother, Kenneth Tennyson was also with them, who was in his very early twenties. No one ever calls him Kenneth though, always Ken. He had the same fiery red hair that Gwen did, but most of the time it was buzz cut.

"Well, how about, cuz? You gonna let us in?" Ken asked.

I was speechless. I didn't even know why they were here, and this was when I noticed that Ken had a back pack on.

Kevin laughed when I failed to speak.

"You'll have to excuse him, Kenny Boy." he said.

"Who could blame him? He's probably so shocked because he wasn't expecting us." Ken said. "Gwen probably didn't tell him about the invitation."

I put up my finger, to tell them to wait just a minute. I closed the door and turned to look at Gwen, who was giving me an innocent look from the couch. I walked over to her, sporting an unhappy look on my face.

"Why are they here? What are they talking about?" I asked.

Gwen frowned at me.

"Ben, they're here for you! You are really not well and you need help! You need friends!" she said. "I invited them all here so we could all game for a while! Maybe it'll help you forget. They need to be here for you, Ben."

"Right. Just like you need to be here for me?" I asked.

"That's not fair Ben. I need to be here for you." Gwen said. "Now go answer the door."

I sighed in defeat and walked to the door. I opened it and before I could say anything, Kevin beat me to it.

"Let us in your house, bitch!" he exclaimed, as he firmly pushed me back inside.

Once I had been pushed back inside, they all stepped inside, as Ken tsked.

"Kevin man, what did I tell you about cussing?" he asked.

"Bite me." Kevin said in return.

"Man, how have you been?" Cash asked, as he stepped up to me.

I grinned as I took his hand and we shook. "I've been fantastic, my dude." I said.

"I bet you've been good." J.T. said, as he stepped over to stand next to Cash.

I let go of Cash's hand before J.T. spoke again.

"You have an extremely hot cousin to hang out with, you follow me?" he asked.

I was angry now and was about to flick J.T. on his forehead, but Ken handled the situation for me.

"J.T., that's my sister you're talking about." he said.

J.T.'s face went pale. "Oh, right. Sorry about that." he said.

"Uh-huh. Yeah, sure. I bet you are." I said. "So, what's up guys? What's brought you here?"

Ken gave me a toothy grin, as he brought his back around so it faced me and opened it up. I looked inside, to see Ken's black Xbox 360 inside, cords, controllers and all.

"Your Xbox?" I asked.

Ken sighed in disappointment, zipped up the flap he had opened and opened another flap and brought out an Xbox Original game. Halo: Combat Evolved. Ken looked back up at me.

"LAN Party. It was Gwen's idea." he said.

I looked back at Gwen, to see her smile. I smiled back at her, as I turned back to Ken, still smiling.

"LAN Party, huh?" I asked.

Ken nodded. "You in?" he asked.

I grinned. "I'll kick your ass." I said.

Ken grinned back at me.

"Not if I kick your ass, first." he said back to me, as he playfully punched me in the shoulder.

"Okay, it's settled!" J.T. said. "Let's get downstairs into the game room, connect the Xboxs and we'll play!"

A couple minutes later, Gwen, Kevin and I were all downstairs. Kevin was off in the corner, tossing darts at the dartboard and Gwen stood with me, while I set up the LAN party for Ken, J.T. and Cash to connect to when they got down here.

"Thanks for this." I whispered to Gwen.

"What was that? You'll, have to speak up. I didn't hear you." Gwen said.

I rolled my eyes, knowing damn well that she had heard me.

"Thank you for this." I said, a little bit louder.

"Of course, cousin. Don't worry about it." Gwen said, as she kissed my cheek.

My face went red as she did this.

 _She's just trying to mess with me. This means nothing, not even to me._

"Stop it." I said.

"Stop what? Stop what?!" Gwen exclaimed.

Before Gwen and I could get into an arguement, I heard a commotion from the stairs.

"Be careful, J.T.! You'll lose your grip!" I heard Cash exclaim.

"Oh, shut it, dickwad! I got it!" J.T. yelled back.

I put my controller down and ran to the stairs, to see J.T. and Cash carrying the flat screen from the living room down the stairs. I was in shock.

"What it the holy hell is this?" I asked, as they came all the way down the stairs.

"Um, we grabbed the T.V. from upstairs, why?" J.T. asked.

"Would it really have been hard to grab a T.V. from Ken's house? Or from your house, or from Cash's house, or from Kevin's house?" I asked.

"Leave me out of this." Kevin said.

"I didn't want to have to carry it through the living room." J.T. sadid, along with Cash nodding.

"It would have been an additional ten or fifteen feet, idiots." I said. "Besides, you could have borrowed the T.V. from my room!"

J.T. snickered. "Get real Ben! We all know about the box of tissues and magazines under your bed!"

They all started laughing. Kevin started laughing, J.T and Cash began laughing as they put the T.V. down. Even Ken laughed, as he came down the stairs. I looked over at Gwen, who was blushing and doing her best to hold back her laughter. I turned back to J.T., as I began to laugh myself.

"Hey, that's funny!" I said, as I continued laughing. "That's good!"

J.T. looked concerned.

"Um, you're going to hit me now, aren't you?" he asked.

"Oh, you bet, dickface!" I said, right before I punched him in the stomach.

J.T. let out a grunt, as he slid down to the floor, back against the wall.

"Alright, people! let's plugin this T.V. and Xbox in and get on with this thing!" I said.

About fifteen minutes later, we had the T.V., Xbox and the LAN Party set up. Kevin, Gwen and I were playing on the bigger T.V., where I had already set up the LAN Party. And Ken, J.T., and Cash were playing on the smaller flat screen on the other side of the room. I had gotten chairs for them from the storage/laundry room. The game session lasted about three and a half hours. And since there were six of us, we decided to play on Blood Gulch for the whole time.

Kevin and I were constantly switching from sitting on the couch or the floor, while Gwen stuck to the couch most of the time. I would have to say that J.T. is the worst player out of the bunch. I was walking along the cliffs in the game, when I heard him speak from across the room.

"Surprise, motherfucker!" he exclaimed, as his character jumped out of nowhere at me.

Only, his character missed me.

"Oh God!" he exclaimed, as his character fell off the cliff, to which everyone else laughed.

The second game we did was Team Slayer, with Gwen, Kevin and I as a team and the other three as a team. Once we started out, an idea popped into my head. As Kevin and I both stuck together as we searched for Ken and his team, I spoke.

"Hey, Kevin?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You ever wonder why we're here?" I asked.

Kevin looked at me and grinned before speaking again.

"It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it?" he asked. "Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything, you know, with a plan for us and stuff? I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night."

"What?" I asked. "I meant why are we out here in this canyon?"

"Oh, um, yeah." Kevin said.

"What was all that stuff about God?" I asked.

"Hmm? Um, nothing." Kevin said.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously, though, why are we here?" I asked. "Far as I can tell, it's just a box canyon, in the middle of nowhere. No way in or out."

"Um hm?" Kevin asked.

"The only reason that we set up a Red Base here is because they have a Blue Base over there. And the only reason they have a Blue Base over there is because we have a Red Base here." I said.

"Yeah, that's because we're fighting each other." Kevin said.

"No, no, but I mean even if we were to pull out today and they were to come take our base, they would have to bases in the middle of a box canyon. Whoop de fucking doo." I said.

"What's up with that anyway?" Kevin asked. "I mean, I signed on to fight some aliens. Next thing, I know, Master Chief blows up the whole Covenant armada, and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, fighting a bunch of Blue guys."

"What the fuck are you guys talking about?" Gwen asked.

"Red vs. Blue references, Gwen." I said.

"What's that?" Gwen asked.

"Betrayal!" the game announcer exclaimed, as I killed Gwen's in game character.

"What the hell?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"That's for not knowing what Red Vs. Blue is." I said, right before Kevin and I cracked up laughing.

We looked around the entire canyon of the map and couldn't find the enemy team. We eventually found them in a cave, armed to the teeth with Rocket Launchers.

"Run! Women and children last!" I exclaimed, as I ran away, barely missing a rocket that killed both of my team members.

Some how, I don't know how, we won the game.

 _One Hour Later..._

Kevin and I took a break from the gaming, and went outside to get a breath of fresh air. Besides, he said it was time for him to be getting home.

Once we were outside, we were talking about something, I don't remember what, when Kevin brought up the most weird thing.

"Give it up, Alien Guy." he said. "I know your secret, Ben."

I laughed, sort of nerviously. "What are you talking about, Kevin?" I asked.

"I know you're Alien Guy, Ben." he said.

"How? How do you know?" I asked.

"You talked about wanting to be a hero all through grade school." he said. "And plus, you were always conveniently not around whenever Alien Guy was around. Face it Ben, I know your secret."

"You caught me." I said. "But you can't tell Gwen, or any of them in there. Got it?"

"Oh, I don't want to tell them." Kevin said. "I want to get in on the action. Whatever makes you do that alien thing, I want a piece of it."

"No. No, absolutely not. Out of the question." I said.

"Okay, that's fine. We had a few good games today, right?" he asked, as he put out his hand.

"Right." I said, as I took his hand and shook it.

I stepped back into the house.

"You sure you gotta go?" I asked. "Can't stay for another game?"

He shook his head.

"No, I got to go." he said. "Besides, I can always just tell Gwen your secret at another time..."

I don't know what came over me next, but I stepped back outside and pushed Kevin over.

"Okay, seriously." I said. "Do you want this to be your last day on Earth?"

Kevin looked angry at first, but he didn't do anything. Just then, it began to thunder.

"No," Kevin said, as he looked up at the sky. "but you bring up a good point."

I raised my eyebrow, as I stepped back inside. Kevin slowly looked back at me, as he got up.

"You be nice to those people in there, because you never know when it's going to be their last day." Kevin said. "Because just like that-" He snapped his fingers. "-they could be gone."

I just stared at him, regarding his ominous message.

"Like you said, you never know. So, you be nice to those people in there. You treat them well, as if it were their last day." he said.

My smile had long since disappeared, replaced with just a cold look.

"You do the same." I said, before shutting the door with force.

I looked at him, as he walked down my driveway. For a second, he turned back to look at the door. And through the glass, I saw it.

I saw his eyes. His green eyes. But, wait. Something was wrong. Kevin had dark brown eyes. So, why were his eyes green now?

A/N: So, what did ya'll think? As for the chapter title being Kevin 11: Part 1? Since this is chapter eleven, calling the chapter Kevin 11 was just too tempting. So, what do you think of Ben's (if just brief) return of happiness? What about the introduction of the other characters? What do you think of Gwen's method of helping him cope with his anger? What of Kevin's message at the end of the chapter? Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please favorite and follow this story! If you want to give me your opinion, post a review or PM me. I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day, and bye.


	12. Chapter 12: Kevin 11: Part Two

Chapter 12: Kevin 11: Part 2

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twelve! I hope you guys enjoyed the first part of the Kevin 11 story arc. But, here's the second part and the Kevin 11 villain is actually going to be appearing in this chapter! So, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter! Anyway, let's get into it!

 _Ben_

 _Thirty Minutes To Midnight..._

"That was so good!" Gwen said, as she looked at me. "How did I not know that this was a thing?"

I just grinned as I looked back at her. We had just finished watching the first season of Red Vs. Blue.

"Can we watch the second season?" Gwen asked.

I shook my head. "Not tonight." I said, as I turned off the Xbox and set down the controller on my nightstand. "It's half past eleven."

"It is?" Gwen asked. "Already?!"

"Gwen, these episodes go fast. When Rooster Teeth made them, they were like two to five minute clips." I said. "Netflix just smashes them all together into one season."

"How many seasons are there?" she asked.

"There are fourteen seasons as of now. Thirteen of them are on Netflix and the new Season Fourteen isn't finished yet. But I don't even watch it."

"What's the matter?" Gwen asked as she smirked. "You just gonna wait for it to get on Netflix?"

"No. The new season is just bad in my opinion." I said.

"Why?" Gwen asked.

"Season 13 ended on a cliffhanger." I said.

"What's the cliffhanger?" Gwen asked.

"Spoilers, Gwen. I'm not going to let you spoil it for yourself. Besides, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I said.

"Okay, fine." Gwen said, as she got under the covers. "Time for bed anyway."

I looked at her, under the covers. Under _my_ covers.

"You're kidding me, right?" I asked.

"What?" she asked in a confused tone.

"You're sleeping in my bed? Again?" I asked.

Gwen looked concerned. "Ben, I'm still under the impression that you can't be left alone." she said.

"Whatever. Good night." I said, before I kissed her on the cheek.

"Ben!" she exclaimed. "What did I tell you about that?"

"Oh, come on! That wasn't a kiss on the lips." I said, as I laid down and closed my eyes. "Besides, I'll take what I can get. You know, I have to make do with what I've got. And when I look at it, this isn't so bad."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked.

I grinned, but said nothing.

"Ben Tennyson, you answer me!" she said.

I rolled onto my side, away from Gwen and still didn't answer.

"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed.

I still didn't answer. All of a sudden, I felt myself get rolled over onto my back. Then, I felt a sudden weight on top of me. I opened one eye, to see Gwen lying on top of me.

"Now, what do you mean?" she asked. "Answer me!"

"Hey, if I can't have you, at least I can sleep in the same bed as you." I said, still grinning from ear to ear.

Gwen looked dumbfounded. She sat up, while still on top of me.

"You pervert!" she exclaimed, as she slapped me.

"Ow!" I said, as I felt the red mark on my cheek.

"Serves you right." Gwen said, as she rolled onto her back, back onto her side of the bed.

"Well, good night." I said, as I turned off the lamp on my nightstand.

"Good night." Gwen said. "And if you touch me, I won't hesitate to smack you again!"

"Hey, if you don't want me to touch you, than why are you sleeping with me?" I asked.

She sat up and smacked me.

 _Yeah, I should have seen that coming._

I let out a sigh, as I closed my eyes.

 _Three Days Earlier..._

"What the hell is this thing?" I said, pointing at the alien watch on my wrist.

"That's the Omnitrix." Grandpa Max replied.

"Yes, I know. But _what_ is it?" I asked.

"It's a device that is rumored to transform the user into multiple different alien forms." Grandpa Max replied. "I thought it was a myth until now. How did you happen to get it?"

"I found it when I went out for a walk in the woods. It was in some kind of crashed pod when I found it." I said.

"I'm surprised that the Plumbers didn't beat you there." Grandpa Max said.

"Why?" I asked.

"It's their job to investigate any alien affairs." Grandpa Max said. "I'm surprised they weren't there."

"Could they have closed down the water park after Vilgax attacked?" I asked.

"Probably." Grandpa Max admitted.

"Okay, I have another question." I said.

"What's that?" he asked.

"When did Vilgax become known?" I asked.

 _Present Day..._

Gwen and I were sitting on the couch, watching the news, when we saw something about a bank being robbed in the city.

"Alien Guy could be there!" Gwen exclaimed, jumping up from the couch.

"Is that all you ever think about?" I asked.

"No! But I have to go. If Alien Guy is there, I have to take more pictures of him!" Gwen said. "Are you coming?"

"Um, no. I'll catch up." I said.

"Are you sure?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, just go." I said.

"Okay." Gwen said, as she walked to her room.

She emerged a couple minutes later, with her shoes on and her camera slung around her neck.

"See you later." she said, before walking out the door.

Once I was sure she was gone, I walked out the door, right after getting my keys. I locked the door once I was outside. I looked around to make sure no one was looking and then I changed the alien watch out of it's camo mode.

I dialed up the alien watch and rotated the ring until I found XLR8's form. That's when I noticed that something was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on which one, but I think one of my alien forms was missing.

I thought nothing of it at the time. The bank situation demanded my attention! And I needed to get down there. I transformed into XLR8 and was on my way.

 _Ten Minutes Later..._

I arrived on the rooftop of a building, across the street from the bank.

"Don't see anything." I muttered, as I surveyed the crime scene.

Not seeing anything of interest, I sped into the bank. I looked around and didn't see anything either. That was when I got charged by something huge. I was rammed into the wall of the bank and didn't get back up for a second.

Once I had gotten back up, I turned to face my attacker and was shocked to see who it was. I was staring at Four Arms, one of my alien forms!

My eyes, or XLR8's eyes rather, widened.

"You are so predictable. I should have known you would come if I robbed a bank." Four Arms said.

"Well, of course I was going to show up! You can't rob a bank without going unnoticed pal!" I exclaimed, as I sped towards him in an effort to attack.

I don't know how, but some how this guy managed to kick me away, even while I was speeding towards him. I was slammed back into the wall and fell back down.

"What to you want from me? What did I ever do to you, pal?" I asked, as I slowly recovered.

"What do I want?" he asked. "Well that's simple! You refused to let me in on the action, Ben Tennyson!"

I was shocked. I had no idea who this guy was, but he knew all about me!

"How do you know me?!" I asked. "Who are you?!"

"Oh come on, Benji! You really can't tell when your best friend is right in front of you?" he asked.

Then, he let out several pained groans, as I watched his face morph from Four Arms's face, to Ripjaws's face, to Diamondhead's face and finally to his human face. I was looking at my best friend, Kevin Levin.

"Kevin!" I exclaimed in shock.

"Bingo! Yahtzee!" Kevin exclaimed, laughing. "Will someone get this guy a prize?!"

"But how did you do it?" I asked. "How could you possibly transform into one of my alien forms?"

"Um, because I'm an energy sponge?" he asked.

"An energy sponge? What's that?" I asked.

"Um, I absorb energy? So when I shook hands with you, whatever sort of energy allows you to transform, I absorbed it!" he said.

That's when I noticed it again, he had green eyes still. So that confirmed it. He had absorbed the watch's energy. And if he had green eyes, he might have absorbed more than that.

"And it just so happens," Kevin said, as he leaned closer to me. "that I know all of your secrets."

"Yeah?" I asked. "Like what?"

"Your desire to protect the one you love the most." Kevin said.

"Um, that's not a secret of mine dude. That's a priority of every super hero, dude." I said.

"Okay, I suppose you need a refresher." Kevin said. "Do you remember how it felt to kiss your cousin Gwen a couple days ago?"

My eyes widened.

 _I never told him that! How could he possibly know about that?_

"I have to say, if she is the girl you love, you are not treating her fairly." Kevin said, grinning an evil grin.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed, as I sprinted over to attack again.

Somehow, he grabbed me while I was speeding and body slammed me on the bank floor.

"A girl like her, I don't know why you would refuse to do anything she askes. Why would you refuse to go through the tunnel of love with her?" Kevin asked.

 _How does he know all of this? These were things I never told him about! Is it possible that he somehow managed to absorb my memories as well?_

"Kevin, you have to listen to me." I said.

"I'm all ears, buddy." Kevin said.

"You shouldn't have absorbed the energy! You have no idea what this alien watch, this thing can do! As crazy as it sounds, I think it can speak to the user!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, I can hear it loud and clear!" Kevin said. "And it's telling me that I should kill you for not being a better friend than you should have been!"

Kevin's face disappeared, as he groaned in pain, morphing into Diamondhead. He walked up to me and picked me up by my neck. Then, he made his arm into a crystal talon and put the tip of said talon against my chin. I thought I was done for, but then he stopped.

"Alas, if I were to do that, I would break the rules of my own game." he said, as he dropped me.

"This is all that life is to you now?" I asked. "Just a game?"

Kevin nodded. "And it just so happens that you're playing my game right now. And you have to play by the rules if you want to win."

"Okay. What are the rules?" I asked.

"There's only two rules." Kevin said. "Rule one, do what I say. Rule two, do not fail, or there will discipline. Strict discipline."

"Fine. Just tell me what I have to do." I said.

"Go home." Kevin said.

"Go home?" I asked.

Kevin nodded, before turning around.

"I hope you were extra nice to those people in your house yesterday, Ben." he said. "Because like you said, you never know when your last day on Earth will be. And if you don't play by my rules and play carefully, someone could die today."

And with that, he ran outside, without any bags of money in his hands.

 _So, robbing the bank was just a scam,_ I thought, as I got up from the floor. _to get me to show up. So he could tell me what I need to do._

"I have to get home and make sure Gwen made it back okay." I said, as I sped out through the hole in the bank's wall.

 _Ten Minutes Later..._

Immediately after I arrived back home, the alien watch timed out. I ran up to the door to unlock it, when I noticed that there was a note attached to the door. I ripped it off and began to read it.

 _Benji,_

 _Ready to play? I hope you remember the rules I told you about. All four of those people that were in your house yesterday have been taken by yours truly. But here's the question: Can you save all four of them before time runs out? Your two best friends are at the abandoned water park, fastened to the top of a water slide with that annoying little sting wing's goop. The goop dissolves in thirty minutes. And if that happens, your friends will, well, let's just say the best case scenario for the both of them are broken legs. As for Gwen and her brother, they are with me, at the top of the tallest building in Downtown Bellwood. Your little girlfriend has one hour, or she'll be nothing but a bloody stain on the sidewalk on the ground. Same goes for her brother. Prove to me that you can save them at least three of them and you're off the hook._

 _Best Regards,_

 _K._

This is just some sick, twisted game that Kevin has come up with. I didn't really care much about the other three people, but if he kills Gwen, let alone hurt her, friend or not, I think I would kill him.

He has Gwen and that's all that matters to me. Question is, can I save all four of them?

A/N: So, what did everyone think of the second part of the Kevin 11 arc? I am really enjoying writing this arc, because this is the first real time that a villain uses Ben's secret identity against him. In the next two chapters, Ben is going to be tasked with saving his friends and finally facing Kevin in his classic mutated alien form (more on that later). Anyway, I'm sure there is something I didn't mention, but I really wanted to get this chapter out. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please do follow and favorite this story. If you want to submit your opinion, then you could post a review or PM me, either will work. I'm going to go though. So have a good day and bye!


	13. Chapter 13: Kevin 11: Part Three

Chapter 13: Kevin 11: Part 3

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirteen! And with that, the third part of the Kevin 11 arc! Towards the end of this chapter, Ben will be pushed to his limits. I can't really think of anything else to say without spoiling this chapter. However, I will say in the next chapter, Kevin will appear in his mutated alien form. Before we get on with the chapter, there isn't going to be a flashback between Ben and Grandpa Max in this chapter, because plot wise, there isn't room for one thi time around. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter and anyways, let's get into it!

 _Ben_

I stopped outside of the gates to the abandoned water park, The Riptide Rapids Zone. I surveyed the park, not seeing J.T. or Cash any where. I dialed up the alien watch and transformed into Four Arms. I broke through the yellow and black striped lines that were blocking the entrance.

I looked around. I believe Kevin's note had said that J.T. and Cash were attached to the top of the biggest water slide in the park. I walked in a little farther and still didn't see them. Since Four Arms had the ability to leap great distances, I decided to leap around the park, to find them faster.

Eventually I did find them, just where Kevin said they'd be. I lept up to the top of the slide, to where they were. I could see now why Kevin said if the goo dissolved they would end up with broken legs, in the best case scenario.

Sure, Kevin had put them at the top of the slide, but they weren't at the top. They were attached to the side of the slide, so if they fell, well, I think you get it. Once they saw me, they started to scream in fear.

"Be quiet, you two! I'm trying to save your asses!" I exclaimed. "If you really want to stay here, be my guest!"

J.T. and Cash went quiet.

"Wait, so you're not the guy that put us up here?" Cash asked.

"Of course I'm not!" I exclaimed. "Why'd you think I'm putting my ass on the line for you guys?"

J.T. and Cash just exchanged glances, but said nothing.

"Okay, let's get you down from here." I said, as I put my fist through Stinkfly's goop.

"What is that stuff?" Cash asked, as I pulled J.T. from the goop.

"It's Stinkfly's goop." I said, as I jumped down with J.T. in one of my hands.

"What's a Stinkfly?" Cash called down.

"It's one of my alien forms!" I called back up, as I put J.T. on the ground.

I lept back up to get Cash down. "The guy who nabbed you guys somehow has found a way to transform into all ten of my forms." I said, as I pulled Cash from the goop.

Once we were back on the ground, they thanked me.

"Thanks, dude. I thought we were goners there for a while." Cash said.

"Yeah, man." J.T. said.

"No problem, did you really think I was just going to sit here and do nothing to help?" I asked. "Come on. You don't believe everything about me that you see on the news, do you?"

J.T. and Cash exchanged glances once again.

"We, uh, we don't really watch the news." J.T. said.

"That's probably a good thing." I said.

"Why?" Cash asked.

"The media depicts me as a menace." I said.

"Well, are you a menace?" J.T. asked.

"Well, I saved you, didn't I?" I asked. "Whether or not I'm a menace is up to you to decide."

"I guess you aren't." Cash replied.

"Yeah, I agree." J.T. said.

"Okay, look I don't have all day." I said. "They guy who nabbed you, did he leave any kind of message for me?"

Cash itched his head in confusion for a second.

"Yeah..." J.T. said. "He said something about us telling you to go to the tallest building in Downtown Bellwood."

I turned around and placed my hand on my chin. I thought about it for a second. I turned back around to face them.

"The tallest building in Downtown Bellwood is the thirty story news building." I said. "That's where they are."

"Where who are?" Cash asked.

"His other two hostages. Gwen Tennyson and her brother." I said.

"Holy shit! That's Ben Tennyson's cousin, our friend!" J.T. asked.

I nodded. "I know." I said. "Well, look I'd offer to take you guys home, but I really need to go get them now."

"Don't worry about it. You have a lot on your plate." J.T. said.

"Yeah, we can find our way back." Cash said.

I nodded and turned around, and began to leap away.

 _Twenty Minutes Later..._

I landed on the satellite pole on the top of the news tower, just a few feet away from Kevin, who was in Four Arms form once again. He was holding both Ken and Gwen off of the roof of the building, so they were out in mid air. The alien watch had timed out on the way there, and luckly, it had recharged and I transformed to Diamondhead to complete the journey.

"You made it!" Kevin said. "Let's talk!"

"We can talk abou-" I began to speak, but Kevin cut me off.

"You had your chance to talk. Now it's time to listen." Kevin said.

Kevin dropped Gwen and then quickly caught her with his other hand, to show me how serious he was.

"Alright, alright." I said. "You got me. It's time for me to listen."

"You're right." Kevin said, as he grinned. "It's time to listen. And you will listen. Let's get started. Lot's to talk about."

I nodded.

"You see, every hero has to make a choice in their life." Kevin said.

He itched his chin with one of his free hands, before he spoke again.

"Like for example, Spider-Man had to choose between a married life with Mary Jane Watson or a thrilling life with the Black Cat." he said.

"You've certainly done your homework, haven't you?" I asked.

"You shut up!" Kevin exclaimed angrily, as he walked Ken closer off of the edge.

"I'm sorry. I interrupted you. I have a knack for that." I said.

"Shut up!" Kevin exclaimed. "I'll drop both of them, I'll do it, I swear!"

"I know you will. I know where this is going." I said.

"Okay, mister wise guy. Where is this going?" Kevin asked.

"You'll drop both of them after doing a monologue, make me choose which one to save." I said. "Is that right?"

"Shut up." Kevin finally said. "And let me finish."

"I gave you a choice. The choice was you let me in on the action, or I make you say goodbye to your friends." Kevin said. "And what did you say?"

"Yeah, that deal isn't going to work for me. I was going to suggest you just go home and forget you ever asked me about it." I said.

"Right. And since that didn't work, I came up with a new choice for you." I said.

He lifted Gwen up a little higher.

"I can kill the woman you love, right here and right now." Kevin said.

Next, he lifted up Ken a little.

"Or, she can lose her big brother who's just about to go off to college." he said.

"How did you know that-" Ken began to speak, but Kevin beat him to it.

"Hey, shut up!" Kevin said, as he bopped Ken on the top of his head.

"So?" Kevin asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Which one dies? Ken or Gwen?" Kevin asked. "Take your pick."

"Kevin, you don't have to do this!" I exclaimed, trying one last desperate attempt to reason with him.

"We all have to make choices in life! Now, choose!" Kevin said, as he dropped both of them.

"No!" I exclaimed as I watched them fall from sight.

I have to save Gwen! I can't imagine a life without her! But, if I let her brother die, she'd never forgive me! Okay, so I'll save Ken instead! No! If I do that, than he'll hate me for the rest of his life! He'd rather me save his sister!

Blast it! I simply cannot decide! I've never had to make a decision like this before! Which one should I save? Why do these decisions have to be so difficult?

A/N: Who will Ben decide to save? Find out in the next chapter! I know it's pretty obvious that Ben will have to save Gwen, but this kind of cliffhanger is really for Ben and not the reader, if you get me. So, in the next chapter, after saving one of them, Ben and Kevin 11 will face off. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please follow and favorite the story! If you want to submit your opinion, than you could either post a review or PM me. I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic night! And, bye.


	14. Chapter 14: Kevin 11: Part Four

Chapter 14: Kevin 11: Part 4

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter fourteen! Man, I can't believe we're up to chapter fourteen already! Well, I have been updating this story pretty frequently, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Nevertheless, I am enjoying writing more of this story, so I don't see why this trend of updates should stop. Anyway, in this chapter Ben and Kevin will face off for the first (and probably not the last time). So, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, so anyways, let's get into it!

 _Ben_

 _We all have to make choices in life! Now, choose!_

The echoes of Gwen's screams as she fell rang in my ears. I couldn't deal with this kind of decision. I couldn't decide who was more important. Gwen was the love of my life, but Ken was one of my best friends! I had made my decision. I just couldn't live without Gwen.

I pushed Kevin out of the way, as I dove head first from the building, in Gwen's direction. As soon as I caught her, I don't know what happened. Maybe it was just a miracle from God, I really don't know. But as soon as I caught her, I automatically changed into different alien, one that I've never seen before.

The alien was green and looked like he was made of vegetation. I don't know how I did it, but the alien's arm thing shot up like a vine and wrapped around a flag pole attached to the top of the news building.

Next, I don't even know how, I swung into Ken as he was falling, and caught him too. I swung towards a neighboring building, with both of them hanging on. We crashed through the windows of said building, with me taking most of the force of the crash. The only injured one was Ken, with a gash in his forehead from the window.

I got up, leaving both of them on the floor. I walked over to the window, about to jump out and go to track down Kevin.

"Wait!" Gwen said. "Where are you going?"

I turned around to face her.

"I have to go hunt that guy down. I have to talk some sense into him." I said.

I turned around again, when Gwen interrupted me again.

"Wait." she said.

I let out a sigh of annoyance as I turned around to face her. She stepped forward as she sniffled, and then she hugged herself against my alien form.

"You saved my life!" Gwen exclaimed, as I heard her start to cry. "I don't know how to repay you!"

I looked at Ken, who shrugged at me as he held his bloody forehead.

"Um, you can repay me by not being so clingy." I said.

Gwen didn't react at all.

"Okay Gwen, stop smothering the thing. He has work to do." Ken said.

Eventually, I felt Gwen let go of my alien form.

"Thank you." Gwen said, as she looked up at me.

"No one is special. I would have done it for anyone." I said.

"You need to get yourself to a doctor." I said, pointing at Ken.

"Ken. Kenneth Tennyson. And that's my sister Gwen." Ken said.

"Not that I'll see you again. As for your sister, we already know each other." I said.

"We do?" Gwen asked.

I nodded. "Remember? At the water park?" I asked.

"That was you?" Gwen asked.

I nodded.

"I thought I told you that I have multiple alien forms." I said, as I turned back around. "If you still want that interview, talk to your cousin. He'll set it up."

"How can Ben do that?" Gwen asked.

"I can't answer that." I said. "Only he can."

I then jumped out the broken window and used my vine arm to swing back up to the roof of the news building, where Kevin was waiting. As soon as he noticed me, he changed into Stinkfly's form and flew away.

"Oh, so this is a chase now?" I asked out loud.

I followed him around the city for a good ten minutes I would say. I eventually tracked him down to an old tenement building. Just as Ianded through a window of the abandoned building, the alien watch timed out.

Back in my human form, I began to look around the floor that I was on. The place was an old apartment building, but any occupants were long gone. Kevin must have been staying in this building for a while, since there was a mattress, a pillow, a blanket and a duffel full of his clothes.

"So, is this your hideout?" I called out, not really thinking.

"Something like that." Kevin called back.

I couldn't exactly pinpoint where his voice was coming from, it bounced around all over the place within these old walls.

"So, have you brought me here to kill me?" I asked.

"No." Kevin said. "Of course you would think that."

"That wasn't cool. What you did back there, I mean." I called.

"What part?" Kevin asked.

"Um, how about every part? You tried to kill the girl I love and her brother." I said. "I was telling the truth when I told Gwen that I was coming here to talk some sense into you."

"Does she know that you're 'Alien Guy' yet?" he asked.

"No, and she isn't going to know." I said. "She wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Why wouldn't she believe you?" Kevin asked.

"Because I already told her. And she's in love with my alter ego. She claims that I wish that I was him." I said.

"Just like Kai told you?" he asked.

"Come on man, don't do that." I said. "We both know how that story ended and I don't want my memory jogged."

"I know. I shouldn't have brought it up." Kevin replied.

"That's okay. Kai and I never had great chemistry anyway." I said.

"So, why won't you tell her?" he asked.

"Because I don't want to have to force her to swear a life of secrecy to me." I said.

"A wise policy." Kevin said.

"Look Kevin, you don't know what having a secret identity is like." I said, as I walked up to a wall with tons of pinned up newspaper clippings on it.

There were a whole bunch of Gwen's pictures of me on the wall.

 _I bet that is the reason he knows who I am. I'm not totally buying his "you talked about wanting to be a superhero all the time" reason. It just doesn't sit right with me._

"You're always in danger, you're loved ones are especially always in danger, even if they don't know your identity." I continued, moving away from the wall. "Just like you did today. I almost lost five people today. I almost lost Gwen, Ken, J.T. and Cash."

"Who's the fifth person?" Kevin asked.

"You are." I said. "You almost crossed a line today, Kevin. But you didn't. You are not too far gone. You can still come back from this. Just surrender, let me help you. Before you do something you'll regret. You can turn yourself in and we can get you some therapy. It's not too late. It'll take a while, but I know I can convince the other four that you're still the Kevin we all know and love. Just please, let me help you!"

Kevin didn't speak for a minute.

"Kevin?" I asked, in a fearful tone.

I heard pained grunts from somewhere up above, followed by a roar of anger.

"Kevin!" I called out.

Finally, he answered.

"No. No. It's too late for me. Why don't you come up to the sixth floor and you can see for yourself." Kevin said, in a deeper toned voice.

I was confused, but I eventually followed his directions. Very, very cautiously. I eventually found the stairwell and found out that I was on the third floor. I cautiously went up the stairs, not knowing if they would collapse under my weight or not.

It ended up not collapsing under me, so I continued on my way. Eventually I came up to the sixth and final floor. I crouched and cautiously snuck around the sixth floor, looking for Kevin. I finally found him. Excuse me. I finally found it. I could only assume that this was Kevin that I was looking at.

His legs and chest were a light red color, like maroon, and he had two toes on each foot. On his chest, he had those kind of rupture lines that Ghostfreak has on his body. He had four arms now, the lower of the two being Wildmutt arms. His back was composed of the material that Upgrade was made of and on his back, he had Stinkfly's wings. He had XLR8's tail. It also looked like he now had three eyes, as well as that bobber thing that Ripjaws has, growing from his forehead. His other two upper arms were a Diamondhead arm and a Heatblast arm.

"Kevin?" I asked, in a fearful tone.

The giant whirled around.

"You turned me into an abomination!" he exclaimed, as he charged me. "I'll kill you!"

As Kevin charged me, I flipped out of the way, causing him to ram into a wall.

"Kevin, I warned you about absorbing the watch's energy!" I exclaimed. "This is on you! It's your fault!"

Kevin let out a roar of anger as he turned around and then he made an attempt to swipe at me. I ducked out of the way and then went to punch him in the rib. And I would instantly regret it. I held my hand in pain, as it felt like I had just punched a rock.

Just then, maybe a gift from God, the watch finished recharging. And as it did, Kevin made an attempt to hit me again.

"Quit trying to hit me, dick!" I exclaimed, as I dialed up the alien watch.

"Kill you!" Was all that Kevin exclaimed.

I dodged his attack again and then used the watch to transform into Heatblast.

"Okay, Kevin. I hate to admit this, but since you can't seem to be reasoned with, I have to put you down. And fast." I said.

He didn't seem to catch what I just said, as he slammed all four of his hands onto the decaying wooden floor, causing it to collapse out from under us. We fell down to the fifth floor and miraculously, that floor didn't collapse. Before I could even get up, Kevin grabbed me with his Heatblast hand.

"Kill you!" Kevin exclaimed, as he leveled his Diamondhead hand out into a spear.

"Yeah, I got that part!" I said, as I cupped my hands over my mouth.

My intention was to blow air into Kevin's face, but I ended up blowing actual fire from my mouth into his face! He dropped me as he backed up, letting out a scream of frusteration as he did so. I took my chance, ran up to him and started throwing punches all over his body while he was stunned.

"Say Uncle!" I exclaimed, as I continued hitting him.

Kevin let out a roar of anger as he recovered, before using his diamond crystals to fire me across the derelict room. I was sent through a collapsing wooden support pillar.

"Ugh. I think I'm just gonna lie here for a minute." I said.

After a few seconds, I forced myself back up. I charged over to Kevin, who just grabbed me by my foot, taking me off my feet. He threw me behind him, slamming me into the wooden floor, than threw me in front of him, slamming me into the wooden floor again, then he repeated the process about five times.

Somehow during one of his attempts, I managed to kick free.

"Kevin, this is your last chance! Please, just let me help you! Don't make me fight you!" I exclaimed.

Kevin let out a roar, as he charged me once again. I dodged his attack easily.

"I'm sorry." I said, letting out a sad sigh, as I began to produce a giant fireball.

As Kevin attempted to charge me once again, I threw the fireball I had produced into his face. He let out a scream of frusteration and anger, as he stumbled around the room, punching at the air. I ran up to him and started punching his upper torso area and head as hard as I could.

"Damn you for making me do this, Kevin!" I exclaimed, as I hit him. "This was you, not me! You did this, not me! You, not me! You! Not me!"

The final punch I hit him with had a lot of force behind it and sent him towards a boarded up window. He crashed right through the boards and fell. I let out a gasp of shock as I ran to the window. I stared out the window, to see that he had fell five stories to the ground. I jumped down to the ground, to where Kevin was.

"Kevin! Kevin! Are you okay?!" I exclaimed, my voice full of worry.

That's when I heard the sound of what sounded like firearms cocking, powering up, whatever. I looked up to see at least a dozen men, all in armored uniform, all of them pointing some kind of futuristic firearm at me.

"You! Put your hands over your head and get on the fucking ground!" the main guy, with blonde hair and a long scar over his eye exclaimed.

I did nothing, I just backed up a little.

"What are you, deaf?! Get on the fucking ground, now!" the guy said again.

I was about to do what he said, when all of a sudden I heard a familiar voice.

"Director?" I heard my Grandpa Max asked.

The guy turned to the right a little bit, looking to where my Grandpa Max's voice was coming from.

"Maxwell?" he asked in an angry tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Backing up my grand son. And what are you doing?" Grandpa Max asked.

"Where's your grand son?" the man asked.

Before my Grandpa Max could answer, the watch began to enter it's time out phase. With intense speed, the man focused his firearm on me again.

"You get on the fucking ground, now!" he screamed at me.

"Director Steel!" Grandpa Max exclaimed in a scolding tone.

Just then, I transformed back into my human form.

"He's just a kid?" the man named Director Steel asked, after a few seconds.

"I'm seventeen. I'm not a kid." I said in a bold voice.

"Benjamin Tennyson, do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Grandpa Max asked me.

"No, no, no." Director Steel said. "It's my turn to apologize. I didn't realize that you had the Omnitrix. Director Steel of S.E.C.T. at your service."

"S.E.C.T.? Who exactly are you guys?" I asked.

"We are the Special Extraterrestrial Containment Team. S.E.C.T. And we are here to apprehend this... thing." Director Steel said, struggling when his voice when he said thing. "Interesting. I've never seen any alien like it."

"He's not an alien, he's my-" I cut myself off, as I realized I had to accept the truth. "He was my friend."

"What happened?" Director Steel asked.

"He used the watch's power to mutate himself. And he tried to kill four of my friends as well." I said.

"Power can make a man do crazy things." Director Steel said, as he got on his knee to inspect Kevin's mutated form.

"Am I under arrest?" I asked.

"I'd like to take you in for questioning on some other day. But other than that, no. You're in no real trouble and I don't see why you shouldn't run around using that thing." Director Steel said.

"Is he-?" I began to ask a question as I pointed at Kevin, but eventually I cut myself off.

"He's not dead, if that's what you're asking." Director Steel said. "But we have to take him to our base for rehab. It's just too dangerous for him to be around."

"What about me?" I asked.

"About the questioning?" Director Steel asked. "We'll do that when we're good and ready. Until then, just hang around. When we're ready, we'll find you."

 _One Hour Later..._

I walked up to my front door, unlocked it and walked in.

"Gwen, I'm home!" I called out, as I closed the door. "Gwen?"

I walked around the ground floor of the house, for a good minute, before I heard the sounds of sniffling. I walked down the hall towards Gwen's room, to see that her door was open. I saw her sitting on her bed facing me, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Gwen?" I asked, as I sat down on the bed with her. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head.

"I almost died today Ben!" she exclaimed, as she threw her arms around me and began to cry into my shirt.

"I, uh, I know. I saw the news reports." I said. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you."

No answer.

"Is Ken okay?" I asked.

No answer.

"Gwen?"

"I almost died today, and I wouldn't have even gotten to tell you something that I've needed to get off of my chest for sometime now." Gwen exclaimed, as she continued to cry.

"Gwen? You don't have to say a thing. You're traumatized, I get it!" I said.

"No! I need to say this!" Gwen exclaimed, as she pulled away from the brief hug we were sharing.

She just stared at me, with the same puffy, emerald colored eyes.

"A few days ago, I rejected you for a "stupid little girl with a crush" kind of thing." Gwen said.

"Please. Don't make me remember this." I said.

"Ben, yesterday I started to realize just how much pain I had put you in." Gwen said.

"Gwen, stop it." I said.

"I've done a terrible thing to you and I've spent the last few days wishing that I could take it back. I wish I could just go back and accept your romantic feelings for me. Because that would have been the grown up thing to do." she said.

I just stared at her in awe.

She looked back up at me.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me." she said.

"Gwen," I said. I pulled her back into a hug, but kept my eyes on her face. "I'm over you. I'm over you. I can accept that you don't love me in that way. I won't ever kiss you again, unless you ask me to. Which I know you will not do that. We can finally move on. We can put this behind us."

Gwen stared back at me.

"Ben..." she said.

"It's okay. Me kissing you? Never happen again, I promise." I said.

"Ben, I think that thing that kidnapped us today was Kevin!" she finally said.

"I know, I know." I said.

"Oh God." Gwen said, as she hugged me tighter. "What the fuck is wrong with our world?"

"I wish I knew." I said.

A/N: So, this ends the Kevin 11 arc! What did all of you think? What did you all think that Ben was able to save them both and the cliffhanger last chapter was just for cliffhangers sake? And yes, in case you were wondering, it was Wildvine who Ben was transformed into to save both of them. Are you all satisfied with how Ben and Kevin faced off? Do you actually believe that Ben is over Gwen? That's really for the reader to decide. So, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the final part of Kevin 11! If you did, please favorite and follow the story. Also, if you want to submit your opinion, than you can post a review or PM me! I'm going to go though, so have a great night and bye.


	15. Chapter 15: Real Talk

Chapter 15: Real Talk

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter fifteen! In this chapter Gwen is going to talk to Ben about his assumed crush on her (that's what it is to her, anyway). This is going to be a pretty slow chapter. No real action, no villains, no alien transformations, is really just Ben and Gwen talking. I can't really say anything else without spoiling too much, so I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter, anyways, let's get into it!

 _Ben_

 _The Next Day_

"Jesus, what did you do to this place?" Gwen asked after I opened the door to my lab.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I got a little pissy when you rejected me." I said, as I flipped the light on.

"Yes, I noticed. So, I take it that you did this?" she asked.

"Yes." I said.

"Why?" Gwen asked.

"It ticked me off when you rejected me. And when I cam home a few days ago to find you not here and realizing that you had taken my request seriously, it ticked me off even more." I said.

"And so you came down here and trashed your lab?" Gwen asked.

"What does it look like?" I asked.

"It looks like you trashed your lab, just because I rejected your romantic feelings." Gwen said.

"Gwen, we've been over this." I said. "I'm over you. I said it myself."

"I know you said it." Gwen said. "Whoa, whoa? What are these?"

I looked over to where she was at. She was holding my lab papers in her hand.

"Those are my lab papers. Ever since this "Alien Guy" has appeared, I've been trying to keep tabs on him." I said.

"Diamondhead can fire shards, impervious to gunfire, Heatblast is composed of charcoal like material, vulnerable for a short time when wet, Fourarms has enhanced strength," Gwen began to read from the files. "Ben, what does all this mean?"

"Gwen, I told you I was keeping tabs on all of these aliens. I jotted down notes about anything I noticed about them." I said, as walked up to her and took the papers from her.

I placed the papers on a table that I hadn't tipped over. I looked around the room and spotted the tape storage box. Or what was left of it. I realized that we might have to clean up a lot more than I had thought.

"You know what?" I asked. "I'm going to go get a broom and a dust pan, you stay down here."

"Okay, I'll see you here soon." Gwen said, as I walked out of the room.

I lightly jogged up the stairs and into the basement hallway. I walked through the kitchen, into the living room and was about to open the closet door, when I noticed that my hands were black. Like the kind of black your hands would be if you handled charcoal with your bare hands.

"What? Why?" I asked, as I sort of cringed.

I let out a sigh as I walked to the bathroom to wash my hands. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the water until it was warm. I ran my hands underneath the water with soap, rinsed and then turned it off. That's when I noticed that it had gotten a bit colder in the room. And for some reason, the mirror was fogged up.

 _What the hell? I didn't shower this morning and Gwen didn't either, so why is the mirror fogged up?_

I let out a sigh of frusteration as I went to wipe the fog from the glass. Then, I was treated to a truly horrifying sight. As soon as I wiped the fog away, I saw my evil reflection staring back at me. You know, the me with silver gray hair and glowing red eyes? Yeah. It was staring right at me.

I backed away in fear once I realized it was actually there. Maybe I was hallucinating the next part, but I could have sworn I saw my reflection actually come through the mirror! I reached through the mirror for me. I tried to dodge his reach, but he got me. He grabbed me by my shoulder and started to pull me towards the mirror.

As he pulled me closer to the mirror, I continued to struggle against his grip. Eventually, it lost it's grip, but grapped my shoulder again. Then, it brought me forwards towards the mirror, making my head collide with the mirror.

After recovering, I noticed that the room had returned back to it's normal temperature. When I looked back into the mirror, that twisted reflection was gone. By some miracle from God, my forehead wasn't bleeding. There was however, a red knot in the process of growing on my forehead.

I let out a sigh, as I held my head in pain.

"What the fuck are you?" I hissed.

Once I didn't get an answer, I walked out of the bathroom and back into the living room to get the broom and dust pan. Once I had gotten both things, I went back downstairs to the lab, where Gwen was waiting.

"I can see why we need the broom." Gwen said, as I walked back in.

I walked over to the area where the case had broken and began to sweep up all of the glass and stuff.

"Can we uh, talk?" Gwen asked.

"Sure, I guess." I said.

"What made you think that you were in love with me?" Gwen asked.

"No. Just no." I said.

"No what?" Gwen asked.

"We're not having this conversation." I said, as I turned around to face her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I already told you multiple times that I'm over you, Gwen. We don't have to have this conversation. And I don't want to have it anyway." I said.

"But Ben, please j-" Gwen began to speak again, when I interrupted her.

"Gwen. Stop, stop, stop." I said.

"What?" she asked, in an annoyed tone.

"This is what you're doing." I said, as put my hand in front of her face and moved my four fingers and thumb up and down, to simulate talking.

"This is what I want you to do." I said, as I touched my fingers and thumb to one another.

"Did you just tell me to shut up?" Gwen asked, as her eyes widened.

"Yes!" I said, as I grinned.

Gwen frowned at me for a second, then went to slap me on the cheek. I quickly ducked and caught her hand in a firm grip, and with my other hand, tapped her stomach, just above her belly button.

I remember from past experiences when we were kids, we would get into fights from time to time and I would always use the same method to pacify her: tapping her on the stomach. She had that spot on her stomach that would take her breath away everytime some one touched it.

Lucky for me, she still hasn't gotten over that. She fell to the ground, after her breath went a bit shallow. I just stood there, staring down at her attempting to catch her breath, as a smirk grew on my face. After a few seconds, she finally recovered.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" she asked, still trying to catch her breath.

My smirk disappeared.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked. "Gwen, when we were kids, I'd use the exact same tactic on you when we'd get into fights. It would pacify you everytime."

Gwen just looked at me..

"You don't remember?" I asked.

She shook her head as she got up.

"Anyone ever tell you that you have a firm grip?" she asked.

"Um, no?" I asked, as I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I just uh, haven't felt a grip like that from you since you kissed me a few days ago." she said.

"Okay, seriously. Stop bringing that up." I said.

"Ben, please." Gwen said.

"No." I replied.

"But Ben, I need to know." Gwen said.

"Need to know? Need to know what?" I asked in a bit of angry voice.

"Ben, I need to know what made you fall in love with me." she said.

I let out a sigh.

"Fine." I said.

 _How can I break to her? I just, I just - I don't know._

"Gwen, is it really not obvious? I mean, go look into a mirror. You are stunningly beautiful, I will admit it. You are so talented, that it's unreal." I said. "Gwen, I loved you. I wanted you for quite a while there. I'm sorry if it sounds weird, but it's the truth."

I turned back around and continued to sweep up the floor.

"Now please, don't mention it again, okay?" I asked.

Gwen didn't answer, but I kept sweeping anyway. I finally sweeped most of, if not all of the glass into the dustpan.

"Be right back." I said, as I moved out of the lab.

I walked upstairs with the dust pan full of glass. I walked into the ktichen and opened the trashcan, dumping the pan inside of it. After that I walked back downstairs to the game room. I walked right into the lab and immediately Gwen hugged me.

"Gwen-" I said, my voice trailing off as I dropped the broom and dust pan.

She rested her head on my chest, as I heard her making a humming type sound as she hugged me. I just let out a sigh.

 _Why? Just why?_

"I'm sorry about Kevin." Gwen finally said.

 _Ookay. Not random at all._

"I'm not." I said.

Gwen pulled away from me, looking at me with a look of shock.

"What? Why aren't you sorry?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Gwen, why should I feel sorry for Kevin?" I asked. "He tried to kill you and Ken yesterday. Whatever happened to him, he deserved it. Even if it was death."

Gwen looked shocked and even a little scared.

"Wow." she said.

"Now, let's get back to work, please." I said, as I picked up the broom and dust pan.

 _Later That Night_

I was sitting down in the lab at around ten past eleven. Gwen was back to sleeping in her own bed. When I told her that I was over her yesterday, she eventually told me that she wouldn't be sleeping in the same bed as I anymore, which disappointed me, I'll admit it.

But, just as I was getting to sleep last night, I heard her enter my room. It surprised me when she claimed that she didn't feel safe sleeping by herself and asked if she could sleep with me. It surprised me even more when she pleaded that I hold her while she slept. I took the only chance I had and decided to do as she asked.

It wasn't really fun, believe it or not. She had asked me to hold her. And she said if I touched her in any other way, she wouldn't hesitate to beat me senseless the next morning. So, that's how last night went.

As for the lab clean up? By some miracle, we were able to safe the microscope. We were able to save a few tapes that could played on the tape recorder. However, most of them were useless, and wouldn't play ever again. Right now, I was using what salvageable equipment we had to do scan on the alien watch's technology.

I wasn't really finding anything interesting. I did find interesting tid bits here and there. Like the fact I ended up finding the watch's alien list as of right now. I did find that one was missing from the list, at least it looked like it was. And I think I have an idea of which one is missing. It was Ghostfreak. It had to be Ghostfreak. There was no other explanation.

If it was Ghostfreak though, I was happy he was gone. Don't get me wrong, Ghostfreak _was_ one of my alien forms. But he creeped me the fuck out. I even used to have nighmares about him, before Gwen and I reconnected. Just then, even thought the chair I was in was flat on the ground, I was knocked out of it, and the chair itself then fell over.

I quickly got back up and flipped the chair back up, and sat back down.

"Very funny." I said, not necessarily talking to anyone. "Do that again."

I continued with my work on the alien watch. Eventually, I found my way into a system that I was pretty sure I wasn't meant to be snooping around in. That's because I found something by the name of the "Training Wheels Protocol".

"Training Wheels Protocol?" I asked. "What the hell does that mean?"

Before I got an answer or before I could look deeper, the same thing happened. I was knocked out of my chair and the chair was knocked over as well. I got back up, just as fast as I had the first time it happened.

"Okay, very funny, Gwen." I said, as I turned around. "Gwen, stop t- Gwen?"

My blood ran cold when I realized that Gwen wasn't down in the lab with me. Even though I realized that, I called her name out again.

"Gwen?" I called out, a little louder than the first time.

There was still no answer. And when I heard it, it scared the living daylights out of me. The sound of a cold, cackling laughter and there was no one in the room but me. I fell right on my ass, cursing in pain as I did.

And that's when the lights just went out as well. I sprang up from my position on the floor and found my way to the door. But when I tried for the door knob, it wouldn't open! Eventually, the lights came back on. I stood, with my back against the door, scanning the room. There was nothing.

But that's when I saw writing on the whiteboard. I walked over to it and read what it said:

 _Are we having fun yet?_

I read it over and over.

"Oh, fuck this!" I exclaimed, as I ran from the room, flipping the light off on my way out.

A/N: So, what did all of you think of this chapter? This might be the last one I post for a while, I haven't really decided yet. So, what do you think was going on towards the end of the chapter? What is the Training Wheels Protocol? What about what happened with Ben's reflection? Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please don't hesitate to favorite and follow the story. If you want to submit opinions, you can either post a review or PM me, either one will work! I'm going to go though, so have a great night and, bye.


	16. Chapter 16: Identity Crisis: Part One

Chapter 16: Identity Crisis: Part 1

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter sixteen! I know the last story arc just ended two chapters ago, but it was time for another one. Besides, the story that I came up with is made up of a fair amount of story arcs. This story arc is exactly what it sounds like: Ben will be having an identity crisis. A few of you have been asking for a few more small romantic moments between Ben and Gwen, and I don't really want to deliver, but alas, I will be delivering only a few more. So, I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and let's get into it.

 _Ben_

 _The Next Morning_

I woke up, when I felt a sudden weight on top of me. I opened my eyes to see Gwen lying on top of me.

"Good morning!" she chirped, as she pecked the tip my nose.

I couldn't exactly get my head wrapped around what she was doing. Not thinking, I suddenly started to speak Spanish.

"Que mierda?" I asked.

Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

"I just asked you "What the fuck?" in Spanish." I said.

"I can't speak Spanish." Gwen said. "The private school that I went to didn't offer Spanish as a foreign language."

"I find that hard to believe." I said.

"I can speak French though." Gwen said.

I grinned after she said that.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, are you going to French me, then?" I asked.

"You are such a weirdo, you know that?" Gwen asked.

I grinned. Then, I wrapped my arms around her waist and flipped us over. Gwen looked shocked at first, but her shock quickly turned into a smirk.

"What am I now?" I asked.

"A pervert." Gwen whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.

"Ha!" I exclaimed, as I kissed her forehead.

After lying there for maybe a minute more, I got off of her and walked out of my room. I walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. I let out a yawn and was about to open the fridge when, I shit you not, the fridge door swung open and hit me in the face.

"Oof!" I exclaimed, as I fell over onto the tile floor.

I was about to get up, when the cabinet door right behind me opened up and hit me in the head.

"Ack! What the hell is going on?" I asked, as I got up, finally.

I held my head as I got up, wondering what was going on.

"What? What's going on?" Gwen asked, as she walked into the kitchen. "Why are you holding your head?"

"Um, the fridge door swung open and hit me in the head." I said.

Gwen stood there, for a minute with her arms crossed over her chest.

"You're making that up." she finally said.

"What, wh- Why would I make that up?" I asked.

"Because you want me to have sympathy for you." she said.

"Sure." I said. "Whatever."

"Poor Ben, do you have a boo-boo on your forehead?" Gwen asked, as she made a sad face.

I rolled my eyes.

"Will it help if I kiss your boo-boo?" she asked.

Before I could answer, she walked up to me, grabbed me by both sides of my face and kissed me on my forehead, right where the big red knot was from yesterday.

"Ow! Son of a bitch!" I exclaimed, as I pulled away from her and put my hand against it.

"What's the matter?" Gwen asked, stilling using her "motherly" voice.

"You kissed the knot that's on my forehead from when it slammed against the bathroom mirror yesterday." I said. "And seriously, stop using that voice."

"Why'd you slam your head into the mirror?" she asked.

"I thought if I can't kiss you, than I'd kiss my reflection. You know, in terms of being pretty, it comes in second." I said.

Gwen just stared at me, with a weird expression on her face.

"Don't flatter yourself." she finally said.

I tried my best to change the subject.

"What do you want for breakfast?" I asked.

"Um, I don't know." Gwen said. "Can we go to Denny's?"

"Again?" I asked.

She nodded.

I let out a sigh. "Fine. Whatever." I said.

"Okay, great! Now just let me shower before we go!" Gwen said.

I blinked out of confusion.

"What? Shower?" I asked.

"Yeah. You know, to get clean?" Gwen asked.

"No, no, no. I get that." I said. "But you ask to go to Denny's and then you tell me you're going to shower first?"

"Ben, you might not want to keep up appearances, but I do." Gwen said.

"Gwen, I truly may never understand the opposite gender." I said.

"That's sad." Gwen said, as she walked towards the bathroom. "So, sad."

"Oh, shut up." I said. "What's sad is that you haven't gotten over that touch to the stomach that takes your breath away!"

Gwen said nothing. I smiled in triumphantly, as I walked past the bathroom and into my room. I undressed myself, as I went to open up my closet. I picked out a dark blue T-shirt and blue jean shorts. Along with them, I picked out the usual tennis shoes that I wore day-to-day.

Once I was dressed, I walked out of my room and went to lie down on the couch. I opened up my phone and scrolled through the list of mobile games that I had installed. I eventually settled on Flappy Bird. I remember when that game came out and how it was taken off of the app store by the creator himself, due to pressure I think it was.

I opened the game and began to play some.

 _Gwen_

I had turned on the hot water in the shower and was beginning to undress. Once I was sure the water was warm, I stepped into the shower. Letting the hot water soak me, I began to think about why Ben was so on edge lately. He ran up here last night, scared out of his mind.

I mean, there had to be something wrong if he was like that last night. For all I knew, the house was haunted and he hadn't even bothered to tell me. What a dick! Just then, I could of sworn I heard a creak coming from the other side of the curtain.

"Ben?" I asked out loud. "What are you doing in here? And why are you in here?"

There was no answer from the other side of the curtain.

"Ben, this isn't funny! I don't know why you're in here, so get out!" I said.

Just then, I heard the toilet flush and the water got even hotter.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, as I tried to move out of the way.

Unfortunately, as I did, I slipped and fell into the tub part of the shower. I was freaking out, my heart was beating faster than I thought it could and I was breathing fast out of fear.

"Ben, this isn't funny!" I exclaimed.

"It's not meant to be funny. This is serious." A voice said.

It didn't sound like Ben, but I knew he was just trying to disguise his voice.

"Ben, what has gotten into you?" I asked. "Why are you doing this?!"

There was no answer from him for a second.

"I'll be honest with you." Ben said. "Ever since I kissed you, I wanted to catch you without your clothes on."

My blood ran cold. Ben would never say that, but he _had_ been acting weird lately.

"Gwen?" Ben asked.

"No, you're crazy! Now get out of here!" I exclaimed.

"Gwen, why don't you make this easy on me and open the curtain." Ben said. "Then we'll have a look at you."

I got up and braced my hands against the edge of the curtain, trying to keep it from opening.

"Gwen, am I really going to have to open the curtain myself?" Ben asked.

I didn't dare to answer.

"Okay, fine." Ben said.

 _Ben_

 _Meanwhile_

I got up from the couch, sick of playing Flappy Bird. I had heard Gwen yelling in the bathroom, but I didn't bother even going to check on her. I respected her privacy and even if did check on her, I knew she'd yell at me. I slipped my phone into my pocket and walked towards the basement stairs.

I was about halfway down the stairs, when something crossed my mind. After Kevin took all four of my friends hostage, it's not safe for them to be around. I was actually considering something that wasn't a great option. I was considering completely trading in my civilian life for a 24/7 life of hero work.

I eventually shook my head, realizing it wasn't a great idea. I began to walk down the rest of the stairs, when all of a sudden, I tripped on something and fell the rest of the way down. Once I had reached the bottom of the stair, I groaned in pain and made no attempts to get back up.

I heard the sound of frantic footsteps from upstairs. It was probably Gwen, already out of the shower. I began to hear her footsteps getting closer to me and that's when I realized she was coming down the stairs. Next, I felt her kicking me in the ribs with force.

"Ow! What was that for?!" I exclaimed, as I tried to get back up.

She kicked me even harder, knocking the wind out of me and sending me back to the floor.

"Don't pretend like you don't know!" Gwen shouted as she kicked me again. "Pervert!"

 _But I didn't know. Why is she doing this?_

She continued kicking me as I recovered. Once I recovered, I got up to speak with her face to face.

"Gwen, why are you hitting me?! What the hell did I do?!" I exclaimed.

Gwen said nothing, as she gripped me by the collar of my shirt. It was at this time that I noticed she was wearing only a towel, wrapped around her body. She backhanded me several times, before pushing me back to the ground.

"What the fuck!" I exclaimed, looking up at her.

"That's for trying to assault me while I was in the shower!" she shouted at me, in an angry voice.

"What are you talking about? When did I do that?!" I asked.

"You came into the bathroom, flushed the toilet to make the water hotter, then you demanded that I open the curtain so you could get a look at my naked body!" she exclaimed, as she kicked me in the shin.

"What?!" I exclaimed, as I tried to comprehend the huge lie she just told. "You are such a liar! I would do no such thing, Gwen! Never!"

" _You_ are such a liar!" Gwen shouted.

"Gwen, I lying in there on the couch and then I wanted to come downstairs for some reason. On my way down here, I tripped down the stairs!" I exclaimed.

"You're just making up bullshit excuses! I know what I saw, Ben!" she exclaimed.

"Gwen, think about it. Do you really think I'd anything like that to you?" I asked. "Think about it!"

"I don't want to think about it Ben! All I know is that you are a pervert!" Gwen exclaimed. "And we had already established that fact! Now, I have more evidence to back up that claim!"

"I didn't do it! That is such a bullshit claim!" I exclaimed.

"I don't care what you think! And as far as I'm concerned, breakfast is off! I don't want to go anywhere with you!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Fine! I'm leaving then!" I exclaimed, as I walked past her.

"Fine by me!" she shouted back.

I walked up the stairs, through the living room and out the front door. I began walking down the sidewalk, trying to figure out where Gwen got the impression that I had attempted to assault her while she was in the shower.

I was angry too. I had not idea why she would think that. Things had been weird last night. What if whatever was talking to me last night somehow found it's way to her? I don't know why, but as I was so angry, I found myself staring at the alien watch. And for some reason, I found myself thinking that it was to blame.

"It's your fault. It's your fault!" I exclaimed, as I switched it to it's true form.

I began to pull on it as hard as I could, trying to get it off.

"Get off of my wrist damn it! I don't want you!" I exclaimed. "You ruined my life!"

I kept pulling on the watch as hard as I could, but to no avail.

"I know you can hear me! Now get the fuck off of my wrist!" I said.

Still nothing, it wouldn't come off. I pulled and pulled and pulled, still nothing. Eventually I got so pissed off, that I began to slam the watch against a tree.

"Is it going to have to take physical abuse? So be it!" I exclaimed.

I continued smashing it to the tree, then went back to trying to pull it off. It didn't even get the hint still.

"You just can't take a hint, can you?" I asked. "Get off!"

Eventually, all of the yelling and pulling made something happen. That exact same red electricity began to arc all around the watch. And it wasn't limited to just the watch. The red electricity was arcing high up in the air and around me too. And then, something straight out of my nightmares happened.

A pale white, or more like albino, skinned hand, just reached out from my chest! There was a flash of light and then, nothing. The arcing electricity stopped. And when the flash of light passed, I was staring at something that I hoped wasn't real. I was staring right at my reflection. The same silver gray hair, the same glowing red eyes and the same albino white skin.

Only thing? It wasn't a reflection this time, it was real. It was real and it was standing no less than three feet away from me, bearing that same evil smile. I was shocked and scared. There was nowhere to run. Whatever this thing was, it was time for me to face it. Alone.

"The look on your face says it all. You want to know the hell I am and what I want." the other me said, in a weird voice. It sounded like me, but it had a different pitch, almost robotic. "Well, prepare to be enlightened."

A/N: So, what did all of you think? Ben's evil counterpart, Albedo, is officially in the story now! What did you think of the tension between Ben and Gwen? Something or someone is really messing with them... Anyway, I hope all you enjoyed the chapter. And, see you in the next one.


	17. Chapter 17: Identity Crisis: Part Two

Chapter 17: Identity Crisis: Part 2

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter seventeen! This is part two of three of the identity crisis story arc. Albedo is now in the story and Ben should consider Albedo to be one of his worst enemies. I do hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. So, let's get into it.

 _Ben_

I stared at my look alike. I'm telling you, it was my twisted, dark and reflection. But now is was real. I had no idea how this was possible.

"What the hell are you? How is this possible?" I asked.

"That thing on your wrist? When you first put it on your wrist, it resulted in your greatest creation: me." my double replied, as he pointed at himself. "You could call me your split personality. I'm stronger than you, faster than you, I'm much darker than you and I'm not afraid to kill those who wrong me."

"The only thing I'll call you is creepy, albino double." I said.

My double's eyes lit up.

"Oh, Albedo! That's such a great idea for a name. I must thank you!" he said.

"No, no, no. I said albino, not Albedo. And don't thank me. I don't even know how you could even exist." I said.

"I told you, I'm your split personality." Albedo said.

"I don't understand, how can I have a split personality?" I asked.

"Like I said, when you put that thing on your wrist, it created me. A clone of you basically." Albedo replied.

"Why are you here? Why do you exist?" I asked.

"I'm here, because I need to do what you won't. And I'm here because you don't deserve any of this." Albedo said.

"What are you talking about? You need to do what I won't?" I asked.

"You are afraid to kill if it comes to it." Albedo said. "You almost killed that guy who attacked Gwen, but didn't."

"You leave her out of this!" I exclaimed. "And I'm not afraid to kill! I would if I wanted to, but heroes never kill!"

"Ha! The classic true hero's motto! I will never kill, he says!" Albedo exclaimed, laughing.

"And what do you mean, I don't deserve any of this?" I asked.

"Look, my friend. You have a great life. You are a hero, you have great friends, you have a smoking hot cousin even that you want to be with, and you don't deserve any of it!" Albedo said.

"You shut the hell up!" I exclaimed, charging him, intending to hit him.

"Yes, let's play!" Albedo said, as he went into a boxer's stance and backed away from me.

I went to take the first shot and failed miserably. As I punched at him, he blocked and reversed my attack. He grabbed my fist and it felt like he was crushing it in his grip. He then kneed me in my stomach, knocking the wind out of me.

 _He wasn't kidding! He is stronger than me!_

"What did I say?" Albedo said. "I'm tougher and stronger than you'll ever be."

"Being tough has nothing to do with being better than me." I said. "Gwen claimed that I attempted to assault her while she was in the shower. Why'd you do it?"

"Oh, that wasn't me." Albedo said, keeping his creepy grin on his face.

"Then who was it?" I asked.

"Oh, I honestly have no idea who it was." Albedo said. "All I know is that you don't deserve the life you have and I'm switching places with you. Right here, right now."

"Why the hell would you want to do that?" I asked.

"Look, I don't know where you got the idea that you and Gwen were meant to be, but you don't deserve her and she doesn't deserve you." Albedo said.

"For once, we agree." I said.

"What? Why do you agree with me?" Albedo asked.

"You're right. She doesn't deserve me. And even if she knew who I was, I wouldn't want to make her swear to a life of secrecy." I said.

"How very noble of you." Albedo said.

"Thanks." I said, my voice full of sarcasm.

"That wasn't a compliment." Albedo said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Shut up, doppleganger." Albedo said.

"I'm not the doppleganger here, you are!" I exclaimed.

"No, you are the doppleganger. Don't you get it?" Albedo asked. "I'm the real Ben Tennyson! I'm more of a man than you'll ever be! Don't you think Gwen deserves to be with a real man, who'll treat her right?"

"You leave my family alone." I said, as I got up and reached for the alien watch.

"Ah-ah-ah." Albedo said.

I looked up at him, wagging his finger at me.

"I won't use mine, if you don't use yours." he said. "I want this to be a fair fight."

I looked at his right wrist to see that he had his very own alien watch. Only, it wasn't like mine. Most of it was colored like a neon red, save for a couple of jet black stripes here and there.

"Now, my friend." Albedo said, as he gestured to me. "Time to hand over your life. I may be your double and I may be the opposite of you in every way, but I am better than you."

I looked him over. He wore pretty much the exact same clothes that I wore. Except they were all the a different color. His jacket was brick red instead of my green jacket. A black T-shirt instead of my white T-shirt. And instead of my blue jeans, his jeans were black. And of course, instead of my brown hair and eyes, he had silver gray hair and intense, glowing, red eyes.

"My friend, I'm going to let you say goodbye to Gwen." Albedo said. "Right after I beat the holy hell out of you."

"Over my dead body." I said.

"That's the idea." Albedo said.

He let let out a yell of fury as he charged me. I dodged out of the way and he charged into the tree that was behind me.

"That had to hurt!" I exclaimed, as I ran up behind him and got him into a choke hold.

 _Snap his neck! Go ahead! Do it!_

Albedo had been removed, yet I still feel dark urges! Of course, I didn't snap his neck. Instead, I kept holding him in the choke hold as I ran forward, ramming his face into the rough bark of the tree.

"Come on, I though you could hit harder!" I exclaimed, as I released him and backed up.

He turned around, revealing the blood coming from his nose and smeared across his nose area.

"You little shit!" he exclaimed. "I'm going to make you pay for that!"

"I'd like to see you t-" I was speaking, when he interrupted me, by punching me in the jaw with a lot of force. Much more force than I'd ever put into my punches.

"Agh, what the hell?!" I exclaimed, as I backed up holding my jaw.

"Stings, doesn't it?" he asked.

I looked up at him, feeling angry. Like the same amount of anger I had felt when I beat the shit out of that drunken guy who tried to take Gwen from me.

"I tried going easy on you and now I'm going to beat your little ass!" I exclaimed.

" _Ooo!_ " he exclaimed, exagerrating a tone of fear.

I roundhouse kicked him in the jaw and he staggered backwards, holding his jaw.

"Payback, you little bitch!" I exclaimed, as I dove over to him, wrapped my arms around his waist and taking him down to the ground.

Once he was on the ground, I was going to use the same tactic I had used to fend off that drunk guy, but I guess Albedo knew already.

"That tactic with the drunk guy ain't gonna work, pal." Albedo said, as he looked up at me.

My eyes widened as I heard what he said.

 _How does he know about that?_

Before I could even react or ask him, he did something that not even _I_ would have done. He reached up and bit me on the neck. My freaking neck! He dug his teeth into the flesh of my neck, but as far as I could tell the flesh didn't break. I pushed him back down and got back up, holding my neck where he had bitten me.

"What the hell? What's wrong with you?!" I exclaimed, as I continued holding my neck.

Albedo grinned, before spitting out my blood. No, his blood. When I rammed him into the tree, it must have caused his gums to start bleeding.

"What can I say? You taste good!" he said.

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. That's something I should say to Gwen, right?" he asked, before laughing a sick laugh.

I let out a growl of anger after I heard what he said. I think you could feel the anger radiating from my body. I looked around for anything I could use, and saw a long, thick fallen tree branch lying in the grass that I could use.

"Oh, did I make you angry?" Albedo asked, as I went to pick up the branch.

I walked over to him fast, as he spoke again.

"I'm sorry, I'll ha-" I interrupted him, by hitting him in the jaw with the branch as hard as I could.

He fell to the ground, as I saw blood fly from his mouth. I ran over to him, picked him up and punched him in the jaw, the same place the branch hit him. I saw more blood come from his mouth as I pushed him out into the street. He looked up at me in surprise.

"You stay away from me and her!" I exclaimed. "Or I will end you, I swear!"

After wiping away the blood from his lips, he got up. He did nothing, he just stood there.

"Run, you little shit!" I exclaimed, as I stepped forwards.

Eventually, Albedo backed up, with a look of hatred in his eyes. Then, he turned around and ran down the street, away from me. Albedo had been beaten senseless. His face was all bloodied up. While my face was virtually unscathed.

"God, what is my life coming to?" I asked, as I turned around and walked away.

 _Fifteen Minutes Later..._

I had jost gotten back home and didn't really feel like going inside yet. Plus, my face was beaten up a little and I didn't want to have to make that appearance in front of Gwen. I went over to the side of the house to where the water faucet was, where you'd connect the hose.

I turned on the faucet and put my head underneath the cold water.

"Ah!" I let out a refreshed sigh as I felt the water rush through my hair and down my neck.

I ran my fingers through my hair, sort of in an effort to get out any pieces of grass, wood, dirt or anything else that could have gotten in there during the scuffle between Albedo and I. Just then, I heard footsteps coming around the side of the house.

"What are you doing?" Gwen asked.

"Never mind what I'm doing." I snapped, as I turned the valve, turning off the faucet.

"What's with the hostility?" Gwen asked.

I let out a sigh of relief, as I stood up all the way, still running my fingers through my hair, trying to get it straight again.

"Because you accused me of something I didn't do." I said.

"Ben, you were the only other person in the house. No one else could have done it." Gwen said.

"Why can't you believe me?" I asked. "Gwen, don't you trust me?"

Gwen ignored my question.

"Why can't you just admit to what you've done? I might forgive you, if you do something for me in return." Gwen said.

I was a bit curious as to what she wanted from me, but I had nothing to admit to.

"I have nothing to admit to." I said.

"So you say." Gwen said, before walking away from me.

I stood there for a little bit more, trying to get my hair to dry. I eventually decided just to go inside. I walked around to the front door, to see Gwen standing there in the doorway.

 _Is she seriously trying to block the door?_

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Um, I'm going in my house?" I said.

"No you're not." she said.

"It's my house Gwen." I said.

"I know. But I'm not comfortable with being in the same house as you." she said.

"You're are so not kicking me out of my house." I said.

"Uh, yes I am. That's exactly what I'm doing." Gwen said. "You can sleep and eat here, but I don't want you here during the day."

I felt betrayed.

 _Gwen is seriously kicking me out?_

I just gave her the evil eye as I backed up. I turned around and walked away from the house. I looked back behind me as I walked, still giving Gwen the evil eye as I shook my head.

So, first I have an evil clone. And now I get a cousin who suspects me of something I didn't do. Oh, and she's kicking me out. Glorious. Fucking glorious.

 _Gwen_

 _Several Hours Later_

I was in my room looking for something, when I heard the door open. I let out a sigh, as I knew it had to be Ben.

"Ben, I thought I told you that you couldn't-" I was speaking as I walked into the living room, but I quickly cut myself off.

I was looking at Ben, but he looked _way_ different. For one, he had silver gray hair and his face looked like it had been mangled. He was also wearing a completely different outfit. He was wearing a red jacket, as well as a black T-shirt and black jeans.

"Ben?" I asked, in worry. "What's with the dyed hair? And the wardrobe change?"

"You didn't love me the way I was." he said, his voice sounding a bit different. "So, I thought maybe if I changed, you'd like me more."

"Ben, I already explained to you that I'm in love with Alien Guy." I said.

"And I accept that." Ben said. "And I'm ready to admit to my wrongings."

"What wrongings?" I asked.

"I admit that I attempted to peep at you while you were in the shower." Ben said. "And I apologize for it. I know it was wrong. All I wanted was to be closer to you."

"Ben, why does your voice sound different?" I asked.

"Never mind that, darling." Ben said.

"Don't call me that." I said.

"Why?" Ben asked, as he stepped closer.

"Because we aren't in a relationship. And I'll never want that." I said, as I backed away.

"Of course you do. I can see it in your eyes." Ben said, as he stepped even closer.

"Ben, you don't understand. I've found you to be really creepy lately. I don't love you and I don't want to b-" I was talking, when Ben interrupted me by firmly gripping my arms and pulled me towards him, kissing me just like the first time he had kissed me.

 _Why? Why can't he take a hint?_

He surprised me with the kiss and eventually I closed my eyes and kissed him back, hoping he would buy my fake returns of affection.

 _Ben_

I stared through the living room window, watching as Albedo pulled Gwen close to him and kissed her. And he didn't just kiss her in any way, he kissed her the way I first kissed her. That was Gwen and I's kiss. That was _our_ kiss! He didn't get to kiss her like that!

He didn't get to kiss her, period! Gwen is mine! _Mine!_ I began to tear up, as I watched Gwen close her eyes. She was returning his kiss and it saddened me. Wait, no. Albedo kissed her. She didn't kiss him. I realized I was pissed, not sad.

I realize I didn't only want to hurt Albedo for doing this. I wanted to _kill_ him. I slowly became infuriated with anger. I slowly looked at the alien watch and then back at the two kissing.

Without thinking, I slowly reached for the alien watch. I dialed it up and switched around until I found Diamondhead's form. I knew one thing. I was about to make Albedo pay for his insolence.

A/N: So, what did ya'll think? I did take a couple days break, but the next chapter is here and I hope you liked it. What did you think of Ben and Albedo's first fight? The kind of unstable relationship between Gwen and Ben? That's pretty much all I have. I just want to thank you guys for all of the support that I've been getting for this story. If you guys enjoyed this chapter, please don't forget to follow and favorite the story. If you want to submit your opinions, than please either PM me or post a review! I'm going to go though, so have a great night and bye.


	18. Chapter 18: Identity Crisis: Part Three

Chapter 18: Identity Crisis: Part 3

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter eighteen! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. I've heard that a few people are pretty disappointed with how the last chapter ended, with Albedo kissing Gwen and all. Well, this chapter will bring this arc around full circle, I guess. So, Albedo and Ben are going to battle it out in this chapter and during their battle, they'll be ambushed by someone (read the chapter to find out). I'd really like to inform you guys more about what to expect in the chapter, but I don't want to spoil anything before you guys read it. So, read away!

 _Gwen_

After Ben pulled away from the kiss, I just stared at him.

"Why?" I finally asked.

Ben ignored my question.

"Have your feelings about me changed?" he asked.

"No, Ben! Damn it! I don't want to be with you!" I exclaimed.

"Quit lying to yourself." he said. "You do love me. Admit it."

"I won't admit it, because I don't love you! You're just creeping me out now!" I exclaimed.

"Gwen..." Ben said, as he gently gripped my arm.

"Don't touch me!" I exclaimed, as I pulled away from him. "There's a reason I didn't want you here! Get out!"

Ben looked at me, with a look of pain on his face. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get that for you." Ben said, as he headed towards the door.

 _Ben_

As soon as Albedo opened the door, I made my move. I was already in my Diamondhead form as I grabbed him by the collar.

"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, as I tossed him out to the street.

I looked at her, as she held her hand over her mouth in shock.

"I'm sorry you have to see this." I said, as I moved out to Albedo's spot on the street.

Albedo just looked up at me in shock, as I moved towards him. His shock quickly turned to that sadistic smile he wore on his face during our first fight.

"You broke the rules." Albedo said.

"What rules?" I asked.

"I told you if you didn't use yours, than I wouldn't use mine." Albedo said, referencing the alien watch.

"And I told you to stay out of my life!" I exclaimed.

"Well, that's kind of hard for me to do when it's not your life in the first place." Albedo said. "I know I said that I'd let you walk away from all this, but now that you have broken the rules, I have to go back on my promise. As unfortunate as it sounds, I'm afraid I will have to kill you."

"Not if I kill you first." I said.

"I thought you said you would never kill?" Albedo asked.

"I'll do anything to keep you away from me and my family." I said.

"Too bad it's not your family." Albedo said, as he reached for his alien watch.

"Shut up with that!" I exclaimed.

Before we could go at each other's throats, Gwen stepped in and actually came to the _defense_ of Albedo.

"Stop!" she yelled at me. "I know that Ben may not be right in the head, but he is still my baby cousin! And I will _not_ allow you to hurt him!"

I wasn't angry or saddened by this, but I was disappointed in the face that Gwen believed that Albedo was me.

"Listen to yourself Gwen." I replied. "Do you really believe that this cowpoke is your cousin? Didn't you see the red eyes he had?"

Gwen looked confused. She turned around to look at Albedo. She then turned back around, with a look of shock on her face.

"Gwen? What is it?" Albedo asked.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke.

"Nothing Ben. I'm just confused." she said.

"Don't listen to him! He's just trying to push you away from me into his arms!" Albedo said. "Let me deal with him for you!"

"What is a weakling like you going to do to a tough, strong man like Alien Guy?" Gwen asked.

Albedo dialed up his alien watch and transformed. Once the red flash (instead of a green flash) disappeared, Albedo stood in his version of Fourarms. Only this version was completely black and white, with Albedo's signature glowing red eyes.

"Who knows Gwen?" Albedo said, in a deeper voice. "You never can truly know a person."

Gwen turned around in shock and after seeing Albedo in his new form, screamed.

"No, Gwen! Don't be scared! It's still me!" Albedo said, as he reached for her.

Before he could even grab her, I charged him.

"Don't touch her!" I exclaimed, as I hit him, sending him downwards.

"Get the hell off of me!" Albedo exclaimed, before kicking me off of him.

As he got back up, I attempted to charge him again. But he saw me trying to do so, and caught me in two of his hands, then body slammed me to the ground. He attempted to slam his foot into my face, but I fired diamond shards into his face, blinding him.

He started to stumble all over the place and I took the time to get up, and jumped up to his height, getting him in a choke hold.

"Let go of me, damn you!" Albedo exclaimed, as he continued stumbling.

"No way, Albedo!" I exclaimed, as I tightened my hold around his neck. "You have to pay for trying to steal Gwen's cousin's life!"

"You couldn't have stopped me either way! Don't you remember the thoughts you had about abandoning civilian life?" Albedo asked.

I was shocked about him knowing that, but I decided not to worry about it.

"You know what you were doing, right?" I asked. "You were attempting identity theft! Try it one more time, and it's a federal crime!"

I then tried my best to but all of my weight against his back, hoping to throw us off balance. I succeeded, and he ended up face planting the pavement.

I got off of him as he began to recover.

"Come on, I thought you were tough!" I exclaimed.

Albedo didn't move for a second, before letting out a deep, guttural growl and springing up, punching me in the stomach. And it hurt, even though I was in Diamondhead's form. He nearly knocked the wind out of me, almost sending me to the ground as well.

Albedo then took his chance and grabbed me by my foot and started slamming me around. Eventually I managed to fire diamond shards into his face, causing him to drop me.

I got up quickly and ran over to him, slugging him in the jaw. He fell to the ground and I approached him, continuing to punch him. He kicked me off again, before getting ready to attack again. But before he did, something landed between us.

I looked at it, and I saw what it was. It was flashing red. It was a bomb device. Someone had thrown a bomb at us. Unfortunately, Albedo took the time to grab me and throw me on top of the bomb.

It exploded and somehow, I survived.

"Oh ho ho, that guy got fucked up!" Albedo said, as the bomb went off.

Once the smoke cleared, I got back up, surprising Albedo.

"Oh, he lived? That's bullshit!" he exclaimed.

Just then, an old villain appeared in front of us. Vilgax.

"Vilgax!" I exclaimed.

"Hello, my friend." the giant alien said, in his usual emotionless tone.

"Look, I don't know why you are here, but I've done what you asked! I've stayed out of your business!" I exclaimed.

"I know, and I appreciate it." Vilgax replied. "But, I need more of the Omnitrix. Best that you just hand over the whole thing."

"Over my dead body!" I exclaimed.

Albedo then whacked me in the head.

"That's the idea." Albedo said, in a monotone voice.

I fell to the ground. I tried to get back up, but I felt someone push me back down with their foot.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"Just hand over the Omnitrix." Vilgax said.

"Never!" I exclaimed, as I pushed Albedo's foot off of my back.

I stood up, as I faced Vilgax.

"I don't care what your reasons are. I will never hand over the Omnitrix." I said.

Vilgax just looked at me.

"Okay." he said.

Then, he leaped over to Gwen and picked her up in his iron grip.

"Hand over the Omnitrix, reveal your identity if you have to. Give me the damn Omnitrix!" he exclaimed. "Or I'll crush her bones into the palm of my hand."

Gwen screamed, as she squirmed in Vilgax's hand.

All of a sudden, my entire world just melted around me. I didn't care about Albedo anymore. I didn't care about myself. All I knew, was that Gwen was in danger. I wanted to scream in anger, I wanted to assault Vilgax. I wanted to do a lot of things.

I don't know how it happened again, but at the thought of hurting Vilgax, I was instantly transformed into Fourarms. I immediately charged Vilgax, ramming his waist using all four of my arms, and knocking Gwen from his grip.

I rammed Vilgax against the ground and began to punch him. Vilgax kicked me off of him with ease. Once he had gotten back up, he activated some sort of wrist mounted laser.

"No matter your fighting back. I will just pry the Omnitrix off of your cold, lifeless body." Vilgax said. "Goodbye, my friend."

I saw the laser began to "heat up" or began to "charge up" and I closed my eyes, and awaited for the laser round to be fired. I heard it fire and then, something miraculous happened. When, I opened my eyes, I was on the ground. And I saw that Albedo had pushed me out of the way, and took the laser round himself.

I just looked at him, lying on the ground, the front of his "shirt" sizzling from the round he had taken.

"You saved me?" I asked. "I was under the assumption that you didn't like to play the hero."

Albedo just grinned.

"Doesn't mean I don't know how." he said.

"What?! You survived?! But how?!" Vilgax exclaimed.

"No matter to you." Albedo said, as he got up and charged Vilgax.

I had no idea why he was all of a sudden helping me, but I took my chance to get Gwen to safety. I ran over to her, where she still had a look of fright on her face.

"It's going to be okay." I said, as I got down onto one knee so I could cover her incase Vilgax attempted to attack.

"What is that thing?" Gwen asked. "That thing you called Albedo?"

"I'll explain later. You need to go hide. Like, right now." I said.

"Why? I can take care of myself!" Gwen exclaimed.

"You need to go hide. And you need to do it now." I said.

"No. I'm a big girl. I don't need to be protected." Gwen said.

Before, I could say something back to her, I was interrupted.

"Hey man! Can I get some help over here?!" Albedo exclaimed, as he continued fighting Vilgax.

I looked back at Gwen.

"Go!" she exclaimed.

"Right!" I said, as I ran over to join the fight.

As I got there, I caught Vilgax in a choke hold and held him, so Albedo could keep punching him. Eventually Vilgax broke free and he didn't even fight back. He just backed up.

"I'll be back for you, my friend." Vilgax said, pointing at me as he backed away. "And next time, it will just be you and me!"

Then, Vilgax lept away from the battle site. Just like that. I turned to look at Albedo, to see that his hourglass symbol was flashing green and then, he reverted back to his human form.

"As for you." I said, as I reached for him, to which he backed up.

"No." Albedo said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "S.E.C.T. will probably be coming. And I have to turn you in."

"No." Albedo said again.

"Why? What do you think the better alternative will be?" I asked.

Albedo ignored my question.

"I now know which one of us is the monster. The way you became so aggravated when he took Gwen hostage, it proves something to me." he said.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"It's obvious you are the real one." he said, in a hushed tone to prevent Gwen from hearing. "I am nothing more than a fake. A double."

"Wait, you were trying to steal my life a few minutes ago. Now you are declaring yourself the fake one. Why?" I asked, in a hushed tone.

"You truly care for her. You want to protect her. I just wanted to- Well, I don't even know." Albedo said.

"Well, I still have to turn you in, Albedo. Whether you like it or not." I said.

"No. You aren't going to turn me in. I am a monster, I know that now." he said, as he turned around, beginning to walk away. "And I'm going to make things right, but not from behind bars."

"So, that's it?" I called.

"That's it." Albedo said. "Oh, and I lied. It wasn't me who attempted to assault Gwen."

I was shocked.

"Well, who was it?" I called back.

"That's funny, I actually don't know who did it. Take care!" Albedo called, before disappearing in the distance.

I turned back to look at Gwen. I walked over to her and she just looked up at me.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"The truth. That thing, that wasn't Ben. Some how, someone created a double of him. A doppelganger." I said.

"Why were you here?" Gwen asked.

"I followed him here, I've been tracking him." I said.

"Then where is the real Ben at?" she asked.

"Where do you think?" I asked. "He's not here, because you kicked him out. If you really want him here after what happened, I'd be a little nicer to him. You have to give him more credit. You have to understand that Ben is your cousin and that he would never do such a thing."

Once I was done talking, I turned around and walked away.

"Wait!" Gwen called.

I let out a sigh as I turned around.

"What?" I asked.

"I still want that interview!" she exclaimed.

I just stared at her, before turning back around and walking away.

"You need to talk to your cousin about it!" I called.

That's when I thought of something that would throw her through a loop.

"You should probably do it before he get's too fed up with your crush on me!" I called, as I continued walking away.

 _Several Hours Later_

I laid on my bed, on my bedroom, staring up at the ceiling. I sat up and gripped the edge of the bed.

 _That was a close call. Albedo nearly fucked up my life today. I don't buy his revelation thing, that he is a monster. I think he's bluffing._

After getting back home, Gwen welcomed me back into the house, after hugging from the paranoia of being alone. She said that we'd talk tomorrow and that she wanted to watch Red Vs. Blue some more. So we watched Season 2, I think it was. It was about ten minutes to eleven at this point and I was coming to the realization that my personal life was in danger.

I was thinking about what if there was only Alien Guy in the picture. I hadn't liked the idea of it at first, but I was really thinking about it now. I got up and paced the room, as I continued to think. I accepted it. I was seriously thinking of throwing away my civilian life.

A/N: Well, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter! This is the end of the Identity Crisis arc, and I know it was pretty lackluster, maybe? Vilgax made his second appearance. Do you think Albedo will go back on his word and not leave Ben and Gwen alone? Anyway, the next chapter will be the start of a pretty infamous/controversial story arc I would say. I'm not going to reveal anything about it, it's going to be a surprise. What I will say, is that the origin of Lucky Girl is coming up, or at least, she'll be making her first appearance. Thank you for reading though, I'm going to go. So, have a great day and bye!


	19. Chapter 19: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 1

Chapter 19: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 1

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter nineteen! I know that the past chapters have probably been lacking in some sort of action, suspense, intensity, or whatever. Well, I can promise that this chapter, as well as this whole story arc, will definitely fix all of that. Lucky Girl is going to be making her first appearance in the coming chapters. Although I'm unsure if I'll cut this story arc short to give her, her own story arc. I would greatly appreciate any feedback on this. I don't think there will be any new villains appearing in this arc, as the whole arc will focus on Ben. So, I don't really have any more info to reveal at this time, so read away!

 _Ben_

I hadn't gotten much sleep last night. I had been up all night, downstairs in the lab. I wanted to continue analyzing the alien watch. I had managed to turn off some of the aspects of the "Training Wheels Protocol", whatever that is.

I managed to turn off the watch's need for a recharge. Honestly, I don't think the recharge wasn't for the watch, I think the recharge was for _me_. I had researched a little more about the ordeal of transformations, and I'd come up with a theory.

My theory was that the whole transformation thing that the alien watch allowed me to do wasn't as simple as pressing the ring down and "bam!", I'm an alien. From what I have learned from analyzing the watch, it appears that whenever I transform, the watch rewrites my DNA structure, to match that of the selected alien form.

And whenever the watch times out, the alien's DNA structure is ripped apart and then rewritten back to my DNA structure, and if my calculations are correct, this put's an enormous physical strain on my body.

Thing was, I never felt any strains from it, so I disabled the recharge factor. So, even if I did time out, I'd immediately be able to transform again.

"Ben, are you down here?" I heard Gwen call down to me.

I quickly switched the alien watch back to it's camo setting.

"Yeah! I'm down here!" I called back.

I turned my chair to the left, so I could see the door. Eventually, Gwen came through the door and leaned in the doorway, with her arms crossed over her chest.

"We need to talk." she said.

"Okay, what about?" I asked.

Gwen walked into the room as she let out a sigh.

"I want an interview with Alien Guy." she said.

 _No surprise there._

I let out a sigh, as I turned back to what I was working on earlier.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I asked. "No one's gonna stop you."

"But, I need you to set it up." Gwen said.

"Consider it done." I said. "This better be your last favor though. I was about to cut my ties with him."

"Why?" Gwen asked.

"Because I hate having to work with him." I said.

"You work with him?" Gwen asked.

"Worked." I said. "I'm not going to be working with him anymore. I'll set up your interview and that'll be that."

"Okay, thanks." Gwen said, before stepping closer to me.

I felt her wrap her arms around my neck.

"You're the best cousin a girl could ask for!" she exclaimed, as she pecked my cheek.

She kept her arms around around me as I continued working. Well, at least, I tried to.

"I'm sorry." Gwen said.

"For what?" I asked, scoffing as I did.

"I wrongly accused you of doing something you didn't even do. And I'm sorry." Gwen said.

"It doesn't matter." I said.

"Of course it matters." Gwen said, as she hugged me tighter.

I let out a sigh, not seeing how she was actually apologizing to me.

"So, what are you working on?" she asked, as she let go of me.

I looked back down at the lab table.

"Oh, it's a wrist gauntlet." I said. "It doesn't do anything else except grappling. I just thought the name "grapple gun" sucked."

"Is it for you?" Gwen asked.

I shook my head, lying completely.

"No. You never asked me what I did working with Alien Guy." I said. "I supply him with stuff that he can use in his battles. This will be the last two pieces of tech that he'll get from me."

"Why are you quitting him?" she asked.

"Um, because the pay is awful." I said, laughing. "No, that's a joke. I hate the guy."

"What's the pay?" Gwen asked.

"That was a joke." I said again. "And there is no pay anyway."

"Okay, so why do you hate him so much?" she asked.

 _Because he has won your heart,_ I thought.

"Because he is such a stereotypical fucking superhero, Gwen." I said. "The classic "with great power comes great responsibility" motto, which he has. Also, he believes that criminals should be put behind bars."

"Well, that's the way it should be." Gwen said.

"Oh, sure, I agree. But it should only be that way if they stay there." I said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Any criminals who manage to escape prison the first time should be put down in my opinion." I said.

"But, that's not how the law works." Gwen said.

"I don't care." I said.

"Why don't you run along?" I asked. "I need to finish working on this."

"Um, okay." she said. "You just want me to-"

I cut her off mid sentence.

"Yes." I said, as I went back to work.

"Okay, see you later then." Gwen said.

I said nothing, as I continued to focus on my work.

Once she was gone, I grabbed the two wrist gauntlets I had made and walked upstairs, towards my room. I walked in and closed the door, locking it behind me. I went over to my closet and opened the door. I had decided to go through with throwing away my civilian life. With so many villains to face and so many risks, I decided some of those risks were not worth taking.

And one of those risks was my personal life. Like, Gwen for instance. What if something bad happened to her? I would never be able to forgive myself. I reached into my closet and grabbed my light brown leather jacket off of it's hanger. I slipped it on over my black T-shirt.

My whole "off duty anti-hero" outfit would consist of this leather jacket, boots, gloves and a mask, as well as the wrist gauntlets. I heard a knock at the door. I sighed in frustration.

"What?" I asked.

"Ben, can I ask you something?" Gwen asked.

"Make it quick!" I said.

"Well, can you open the door?" she asked.

"Gwen, I'm very busy today. I can't waste time. Whatever you need to ask me, make it fast." I said, as I moved back to the closet.

"Well, when I interview Alien Guy, do you think I could ask him what he thinks about me?" she asked.

 _Of course, because she wants Alien Guy to return her feelings. If she would just pay a little more attention to me, she'd know._

"I wouldn't recommend it, but you're a big girl Gwen. Do what you think is right." I said, as I searched through my closet.

"Okay. And if he does accept my feelings and does want to date me, what should I do?" she asked.

"Go for it." I said.

"But won't you be jealous?" Gwen asked.

"Jealous? Yes. Angry? No." I said, as I found my black suit Spider-Man costume I had been looking for.

"But I thought-" Gwen stopped speaking and I heard her take a breath. "I thought you loved me?"

"It was just nerve, you were right." I said, as I slipped the black suit Spider-Man gloves onto my hand. "If I can't make you happy, than maybe he can."

"So, you're okay with it?" Gwen asked.

"Yes." I said, as I grabbed the black suit mask from the closet.

"Thank you, Ben!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Just do what you think is right." I said, as I slipped on the mask. "Goodbye, Gwen." I whispered those last two words.

I put on the wrist gauntlets on over my gloves, before I opened my window and slipped outside.

 _Several Hours Later_

I had officially cut my losses from my old life. As far as I was concerned, Ben Tennyson was out of the picture. Even when I wasn't in my alien form, I never planned on taking off my mask. I may not have a secret identity anymore, but in my eyes, it still had to be protected.

As for a place to stay while I wasn't out fighting crime? I was going to be staying in that old tenement building that I had tracked Kevin to a while back. I had set up a decent living quarters there, with a small food stock. If I ran out, I could simply sneak back into my house to get more.

I had just taken care of a small crime and I had beaten the culprits senseless. My former self would have despised my actions here, but the old me had ceased to exist. I had beaten the two thugs senseless after they tried to rob a jewelry store. I might have put them in the hospital.

I was trying to walk away from the scene, when I ran into the person I least expected to run in that day. It was Grandpa Max. He tried talking to me, but I just kept walking.

"Ben!" he shouted my name. "I saw what you did with those two thugs! I thought you were better than this!"

I ignored him, I just kept walking.

"Benjamin Tennyson, you answer me!" he exclaimed.

I finally turned to look at him, still wearing my mask after timing out.

"Ben Tennyson is dead." I said, before turning around and walking away.

A/N: Well? Good or bad? I apologize for the short chapter length, but this will be a five or six part arc. As for my question regarding bringing Lucky Girl into the story, I would appreciate any suggestions. At this point, Ben thinks that his civilian doesn't even need to exist. So now, he's abandoned his personal life for a 24/7 life of hero work. Well, he's going to be more like an anti hero for a while. I won't really ask any questions this time around. Any comments or questions you have, you can post a review if you want to. And if you want to PM me, you could do that too. Please do not forget to follow and favorite the story if you are enjoying it. I'm going to go though, so have a good day and bye.


	20. Chapter 20: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 2

Chapter 20: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 2

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty! Yes, we are in the twenties already! In this chapter, Gwen will be interviewing Ben, in his alien form, of course. And another thing, in this chapter, you will see how much an anti hero Ben will become in this arc. He's going to be much more violent than he usually is. So, I can't really say much more. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter and read away!

 _Ben_

One day of this anti hero stuff later, and I was still out on the streets of the city. I hadn't gone home last night, and frankly, Gwen was probably worried sick about me.

 _No, she's not worried about me. She's worried about Ben Tennyson. And Ben Tennyson and I are no longer the same person._

I sat against the wall of a skyscraper, using my gloves and boots to "stick" to the wall. I had been up all night, working on trying to make one of my designs a reality. The technology I installed to the black suit gloves, as well as my boots, would allow me to stick my hands and feet to walls, via static electricity.

Now, before you say I'm just copying Spider-Man at this point, I couldn't crawl on walls, I could only stick on them, as I sat against them, if that makes sense. The wrist gauntlet worked by a trigger system, activated by my two middle fingers.

When the trigger is activated, the grappel line is launched. It was a work in progress though. I couldn't swing from it, I could only kick off of the wall I had been sitting on, to get myself to the desired location.

I was currently listening to the radio, via an earpiece that I was wearing underneath my mask. I always had set to the police scanners, so I could be notified of any crimes. I was just sitting there on the wall, when I was notified about bank robbery in progress.

"Alright." I said, as I kicked off of the wall I was on, grappeling to the building across from me. "Let's get to work."

As I made contact with the building, I dialed up the alien watch. I selected XLR8 and transformed. I sprinted all the way down the building once I had transformed, all the way down to street level.

I sprinted the rest of the way to the bank. Once I had gotten there, I noticed the police weren't even here yet.

 _Typical. They're supposed to be Bellwater's finest and they can't even apprehend a few bank robbers._

I sped into the bank, to see there were three to four criminals attempting to rob the place.

"Taking things that aren't yours?" I tutted. "You could really get in trouble."

"What the-?!" one of the thieves exclaimed, as he turned to look at me.

"Looks like the freak wants to play!" another thief exclaimed, as he pulled out a pistol.

He shot at me, but I was long gone after he had pulled the trigger. He looked around wondering where I had gone, before I appeared next to him. He was shocked and tried to attack, but I was faster.

Was it wheels that XLR8 had on his feet? Anyway, before he could attack me, I whacked him in the chin with my foot, sending blood flying from his mouth. He dropped the pistol as he fell to the ground.

I turned around, to see the other three thieves, looking at me in fear.

"Well?" I asked. "Who's next?"

All three of them exchanged glances, before pointing their pistols at me.

"Fair enough." I said, before sprinting to the right, out of their sight.

They all looked around, trying to figure out where I went. I used my speed and my fist to sprint past all three of them, nailing their heads as I sped past. They all fell to the ground.

I heard running from behind me and I turned, to see the guy I had nailed in the jaw running up to me. Before he could hit me, I grabbed him by his baggy jacket and turned with him, throwing him into one of the other thieves.

"I'd recommend that you stay down after that." I said.

Of course, they didn't listen. One of the thieves got up and ran towards me to attack. I used my tail to trip him once he got close enough. He flew upwards and I grabbed his foot while he was in mid air. I swung him fowards, causing him to faceplant the marble floor.

Once he rolled over onto his back, I saw all of the blood on the floor. And I saw his nose and mouth was plastered with his own blood, he also had a few missing teeth.

"Unless you want the janitors to have to mop up any more of your blood, I'd recommend that all of you stay down." I said.

No one moved.

"Wise choice." I said.

Just then, I heard the sirens. I turned around, to see a group of cops entering the bank, all of them pointing their firearms at me.

"Get on the ground, now!" one of them exclaimed.

I was never going to do what they asked, obviously. But that's when I saw Gwen, in the crowd behind them, of course with her phone in hand, snapping pictures. Once I saw Gwen, I knew I had to get her out of here.

 _What is she doing here? Oh, of course. The interview._

Without even thinking and with lightning speed, I sprinted over to Gwen, firmly gripped her forearm and took off with her. Minutes later, I had gotten she and I back to the old tenement building that I had set up shop in.

Gwen eventually spoke, after recovering from the whiplash of the ride there.

"Is that how you treat all of the girls who take pictures of you?" she asked, in a shaky voice.

I let out a shallow laugh. "No." I said. "Only the ones who are in immediate danger."

"I've never seen you be so violent." she said.

"They were trying to rob a bank, Gwen." I said, as I paced the room.

"I know. But you didn't have to beat them so hard. And what about the two thugs you put into the hospital yesterday?" she asked.

"What about 'em?" I asked.

"You beat them, too! Jesus, who made you judge, jury and executioner?" she asked.

"No one. It's just what has to be done." I said.

"I agree, I guess. It's just your methods..." Gwen said.

"A hero never changes his ways." I said.

"An anti hero is more like it." Gwen said.

"Whatever." I shot back.

"So, where are we?" Gwen asked.

"My hideout. My home away from home. My Batcave." I said. "Whatever you want to call it, this is where I live."

"It's kind of a shit hole." Gwen retorted.

I let out a laugh.

"Yeah, but it's my shit hole." I said. "And it does good for me."

Just then, the hourglass symbol on my chest began to flash red. I was timing out. But I wasn't worried.

The red flash occurred, leaving me in my human form. I turned to look at Gwen, with my mask still on. I took off my wrist gauntlets and sat them on the old table that was in the room.

"Well, I think now is the best time to start the interview." Gwen said.

"Okay. What's the first question?" I asked, my voice being muffled by the mask.

"Are you really human?" she asked.

"Of course I am." I said.

"How can you change into alien forms?" she asked.

"I was born with the ability. This watch on my hand, is alien. And it allows me to really take advantage of that ability." I said, pointing at the alien watch.

"What's with the mask?" Gwen asked.

"We all wear masks. We all have personal lives that we can't risk to jeopardize." I said. "Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Batman, Bruce Wayne. Daredevil, Matthew Murdock. Do I need to say anymore?"

"No." Gwen said. "Now, uh, what was your motive for doing what you do?"

"Do I really need a motive?" I asked. "Face it. This city is slowly breaking apart. And I want to do something about it."

"That's uh, actually admireable." Gwen said.

"Thanks." I said. "Wait, wait, wait. This isn't going to the news, is it?"

"I'm not a reporter. I can't submit this. And do you see me writing down notes?" Gwen asked.

"Wait, if you can't submit this to the paper, why are you interviewing me in the first place?" I asked.

"Because I want to get to know _the_ Alien Guy." she said.

"I hate that name." I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it sounds so gay." I said. "I'd rather call myself something else."

"Okay, maybe I can help with that." Gwen said.

"What do you got?" I asked.

"How about Alien _Man_? Or, ooh, I like this one." she said. "How about Watch Boy?"

 _Watch Boy? Huh._

"That's actually pretty good." I said.

Gwen winked at me.

"But it's taken." I said. "At least I'm pretty sure it is."

"Aw, well crap." she said. "Um, can I ask you a question?"

"Um, you're interviewing me, aren't you?" I asked.

"Have you ever thought about partnering up with someone?" she asked.

"No. Absolutely not. I work alone." I said. "Plus, I don't need someone to babysit."

Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"Who said anything about babysitting?" she asked.

"It's more of I don't want to risk anyone's life." I said.

"Oh come on!" Gwen said. "It's not like that! I want to be your lady in the chair!"

"What? Like, you mean Oracle?" I asked.

"Oracle?" she asked.

"She's a character from DC comics. Long story short, the Joker shot her in the spine, paralyzed her." I said. "And she eventually helped Batman by being his eyes and ears. In a "techy" sort of way."

"You know a lot about comic books. Ben would have liked that." Gwen said.

I nodded.

"It's a shame. That he resigned from being my supplier." I said. "I've seen him do some amazing things."

"So have I. A few scary things. But, amazing as well." Gwen said. "I assume you got the last package he sent you?"

I nodded.

"Yes. Again, it's a shame." I said.

"What other stuff has he created for you?" she asked.

I walked over to her, taking off my gloves and boots once I got to her. I handed them to her.

"Put these on." I said.

She looked at me with a confused look, but did what I asked.

"Now what?" she asked.

"Jump onto one of these walls, backwards though. Make sure your hands and feet touch the wall first." I said.

She did what I told her and was visibly shocked by the results.

"How can you do that?!" she asked.

I walked a bit closer, incase she tried to scale the wall.

"Ben made it. Utilization of static electricity caused the user to cling to almost any surface." I said.

"Wow." she said, as expected, she attempted to scale the wall.

She fell, but I caught her, putting my arm around her stomach, being careful not to touch her chest by accident. She thanked me once she was standing back up and once she had returned the gloves and boots to me. Even though I was standing nose to nose with her, I could smell that she was wearing a perfume.

 _Trying to impress me._ _Get me - Alien Guy - to fall for her._

"You're welcome." I said. "Um, can you get me a soda from that duffel? There's water in there too, if you want something to drink."

"Of course." Gwen said, as she walked to my duffel. "So, can you consider a partnership or something?"

I let out a silent sigh as I slipped my boots back on.

"What? Like you, as my partner?" I asked.

"Is there something wrong with that?" she asked, as she tossed the soda can at me.

I caught in my right hand.

"Well, for starters, you don't have super powers or abilities." I said.

"I know I don't have any powers or abilities." Gwen said.

"And you don't know tech. So, when you can learn how to hack into camera systems, disable motion trackers, anything like that, then we'll talk. Until then, you have my permission to photograph me still for the newspaper. Help spread word around the city. Please Gwen. Help me clear my name?" I asked.

"Of course." she said, nodding. "I'll do anything to help."

"Good. I'd appreciate it." I said.

"Oh shit!" Gwen said, looking at her phone. "I have to get back, and make sure Ben made it home alright. Need to make sure he's been fed and if he's okay. Thanks for the interview!"

I turned, as I watched her leave the room.

"Um, don't mention it?" I asked, not getting an answer.

Once I was sure she was gone, I walked over to the table, gulping down a good amount of my soda on the way there. I placed my gloves on the table, along with the soda can.

I let out a sigh.

"Better not go back on her word." I said, as I yawned.

I stood there in silence for a few moments, before I heard a voice.

"You know, you taught me better than this." I heard a familiar voice say. "You taught me how _not_ to be a monster, how to start over. And yet here we are and I'm wondering now: Which one of us is the monster?"

I turned to the window, to see the young man perched on the window sill, looking at me.

"Hello, Ben. What have you been up to?" he asked.

I noticed his red eyes first. Then, his silver gray hair.

"Albedo." I said.

A/N: So, that's quite the ending, hmm? Well, have you noticed how violent Ben has become? Do you like how he says that Ben and Alien Guy are not one and the same anymore? What did you think about the interview? What do you see happening to Ben in the future, now that this story arc is going? I really can't think of anything else. Although, I still need help trying to figure out how to bring Lucky Girl into the story. I would really like help, whether or not I should give her her own story arc to appear in, or whether she should just appear somewhere in this arc. So, I would really like an answer to that, if anyone can help. I also referenced csgt's story, by way of Gwen asking Ben about the name "Watch Boy". I got nothing else. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. With that said, I'm going to go. So have a great day and, bye.


	21. Chapter 21: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 3

Chapter 21: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 3

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty one! This story arc I would say is halfway over. In this chapter, as funny as it sounds, Albedo is going to try to talk Ben into leaving the path he is going down. Ben may be getting more violent in the coming chapters, we'll have to see. I'd say that you can't really expect Ben's actions, like you can't predict the things he'll end up doing. So, with that said, let's get on with the chapter.

 _Ben_

"Albedo." I said.

"What are you playing at, Ben?" Albedo asked, as he stepped into the room.

I cringed as soon as I heard that name.

"Don't call me that." I said.

"It's your name, Ben." Albedo said.

"Ben Tennyson is dead!" I hissed, through gritted teeth.

"Now, I know that's not true." Albedo said. "A couple of days ago, you taught me something. You taught me that you and I are not the same, but that's okay. You made me learn that I am a monster. And ever since, I've been doing what I can to make myself into something with just a degree of humanity. I've even tried to stop a few muggings. But I'm not as good as you, Ben."

I ignored the fact that he said that name again.

"So, what? You expect me to train you? You want to be my sidekick?" I asked. "Fuck off."

Albedo looked at me with a look of hate.

"I'm doing my best to resist my desire to beat the shit out of you, Ben. I'm telling you, this guy, right here in front of me, and the guy who spoke to me a few days ago, aren't the same. Tell me, what happened?" he said.

"Life got fucked up, that's what happened!" I exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" Albedo asked.

"Look, two, maybe three of my enemies know my secret identities. I made that mistake. And I'm not going to make it again." I said. "So, I threw away my civilian and personal life. That way, I can't make the mistake again and my friends and family will be safe from any enemies I make in the future."

"I smell bullshit." Albedo said.

"What?" I asked.

"You just wanted a reason to be an anti hero." he said.

"Screw you, Albedo." I said, as I took another drink from my soda.

"Likewise." he said. "I don't exactly like you either, Ben."

As soon as he said that name, out of rage, I threw the pop can at him. He caught it, and forcefully tossed it back at me. I swatted it aside, sending it out the window.

"Nice reflexes." I said.

"I could say the same about you." Albedo said.

"Shut up. What did I say about saying that name?" I asked.

"I don't care." Albedo said. "It's your name."

"Not anymore." I said, as I sat down, back against the wall.

"Ben Tennyson has always been your name!" Albedo exclaimed. "That doesn't change now!"

"Stop it." I said. "Stop trying to convince me otherwise. Just stop it."

"Well, had to try." Albedo said. "I guess I'll move on to why I'm really here."

"Oh, so you didn't come here to try to convince me to go home?" I asked. "That surprises me. I had thought that Gwen tipped you off to come find me."

"I think you and I both know that Gwen wouldn't want to see me. Not after what I pulled." Albedo said.

I got up and walked over to him, until we were standing a couple feet from each other.

"Yeah. You pulled some dumb shit. You kissed her and in the way that Ben kissed her. That was their kiss, not yours!" I exclaimed, before I punched him in the nose.

He fell backwards, onto his ass. He looked up at me, as he wiped the blood from his nose.

"Okay. I admit that I deserved that. But how did you know I kissed her in the way that you did?" Albedo asked.

"Not me, it was Ben. And he was watching." I said.

"There you go again." Albedo said.

"Shut up. What ae you here for?" I asked.

"I, uh, there's a case that I'm having a hard time working out." Albedo said.

"A case?" I asked. "What are you, a cop?"

"No. But I'm thinking that I want to be a P.I. Like a private investigator, you know?" Albedo asked.

"Yeah, I know what a P.I. means. Jackass." I said.

"We don't have to call each other names. Dumbass." Albedo said. "That's payback, by the way."

"Enough! What's the case?" I asked.

Albedo dropped a hefty file at my feet. I bent over and picked it up. I began leafing through the file.

"And let me guess, you expect me to do this for you? What are you trying to do anyway?" I asked.

"I'm trying to make sure this guy ends up in jail. So he can't kill again." Albedo said.

"You do realize that that isn't what a P.I. does, right? That's what a cop would do." I said.

"Whatever. I guess I'm trying to be a detective then, by grabbing all of this evidence." Albedo said.

I opened up the file all the way, and saw the suspect's bio and picture paperclipped on the very front. His name was Leon Jones and he had pale blue eyes, as well as blonde hair.

"Who is he?" I asked, looking up at Albedo.

"Leon Jones. I think he's an ex-marine. Taking the law into his own hands." Albedo said.

"So, you're telling me that I'm dealing with the Punisher, here?" I asked.

"Yeah, basically." Albedo said.

"Great." I said.

"And there's another thing. He leaves a calling card." Albedo said.

I continued flipping through the files. I stopped and my jaw fell open out of shock and disgust when I saw the pictures of this guy's victims. I wanted to vomit. Some of the pictures depicted the guy's victims in pieces. Some of them, his victims with their heads blown off.

I retched, but didn't throw up.

"I see you've found the pictures of his victims." Albedo said.

"Yeah! Thanks for the warning, dick!" I exclaimed.

"Will you just look closer at them? That's where this guy leaves his calling card, at the scene of the crime, near the body." Albedo said.

I did as he said, and eventually, I saw it. His "calling card" were two red sixes, written close to the victim's body. And I was pretty sure that they were written using the victim's blood.

"Sixty Six?" I asked. "That's his calling card?"

"Yeah." Albedo finally said.

"Jesus." I said. "How did you get all of this? These photos and papers?"

"I have my methods." Albedo said.

"Whatever." I said. "I don't want to know."

"Will you look into it, though? Please?" Albedo asked.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." I said.

"Thanks." he said, before heading towards the door.

"Albedo, wait." I said.

"What?" he asked.

I placed the file down onto the table and walked to my duffle bag. I pulled out Ben Tennyson's green jacket, his shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes. I turned back around and tried to get Albedo to take the items.

"Please, take over Ben's life. Wear his clothes, dye your hair brown, figure out to change your eye color. If it's not for him, than do if for Gwen. Ben wouldn't want Gwen to worry about him." I said.

Albedo looked at me for a few seconds, before shaking his head.

"No. Only you can do that Ben. No one can take over your life. It's your life and your life alone. I won't do it." Albedo said.

I just watched as he turned back around and walked away.

"Look into that case for me, will you?" he called behind him. "Thanks!"

I just stood there, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.

 _Several Hours Later_

I sat down on the edge of the roof I was on, as I surveyed the drug deal that was going on below me. I thought if I waited long enough, this "Punisher ripoff" would show up. I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Until finally, something happened.

"Hey! Who invited you?!" one of the guys yelled.

I thought that they had seen me, but that wasn't the case. I eventually noticed a guy in a trench coat approaching the scene.

"Hey! I asked you a question!" the guy called.

The guy in the trench coat kept walking towards them, showing no sign of stopping.

"Hey, idiot! Do you hear me?!" the guy called.

That's when I noticed that trench coat guy pulled an AR-15, seemingly out of nowhere. He was probably concealing it in the trench coat. And he just unloaded on all of the druggies down there.

"Holy shit!" I said, as I used the pipe on the wall to slide down to the ground.

Once I had gotten to the ground, I noticed that the place was a blood bath. Blood everywhere. Most of, if not all of the druggies were dead.

I snuck up on the guy as he continued to walk slowly, probably planning to put down any and all stragglers. I eventually caught up to him and I jumped up, getting him into a choke hold.

"You know how I feel about killing in my city?" I asked, as I tightened my hold on him. "I may feel that criminals need to be punished, but I don't kill!"

With no trouble at all, the guy threw me over his shoulder. That's when I got a good look at his face. It was the suspect that I had seen from his picture. It was Leon Jones. He walked up to me and pointed the barrel of the rifle at my head.

"Nah. You aren't worth it." was all I got out of him.

Then, he turned over the rifle and struck me with the butt of it, knocking me out.

 _Sometime Later_

I eventually came to, feeling a pain in my head. I eventually looked around, tried to move. That's when I noticed that I was chained to a pillar. My hands were on either side of me, so I couldn't activate the alien watch. I let out a bit of a gasp, when I realized I couldn't move.

I heard someone clear their throat, and I looked over to see the suspect, Leon, leaning up against a brick wall. He was sipping from a thermos.

He saw me look at him.

"Morning sleeping beauty." he said, as he took another drink from the thermos. "You've got a big day ahead of you."

A/N: Well, what did you guys think? I lied, when I said there wouldn't be a new villain in this arc. I eventually thought about introducing a new villain into this arc, and I went through with it. Bonus points if you can figure out who the new villain is, but I'm pretty sure you won't know just yet. But I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review or PM me if you want to submit your opinion! I'm going to go though, so have a great day, and bye.


	22. Chapter 22: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 4

Chapter 22: Ben Tennyson No More: Part 4

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty two! This chapter will mainly focus on Ben trying to escape the new villain's (Leon Jones) grasp. I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter and with nothing else to be said, I'll let you start reading!

 _Ben_

I struggled against my chains, as Leon walked closer to me, putting the top back onto his thermos.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter, _Alien Guy_." Leon said, saying my name in a sarcastic tone.

I watched him walk away, over to a duffle bag.

"So, what's your story?" I asked.

"Shut up." Leon said, as he began to dig through the duffel bag.

I continued straining against my chains, trying to break free. I looked at Leon, as he dug through the duffel bag.

"You can stop that now." he said.

"What?" I asked.

"You can stop struggling against your chains." Leon said, as he turned around, carring what looked like a modern sawn off shotgun. Like a Spaz-12, maybe?

A look of fear started to come onto my face, realizing that I was in some pretty deep shit.

"Because the only way that you are getting off of this rooftop, is if I let you." Leon said. "And that is highly unlikely, unless you turn out different than I would have thought. Again, unlikely."

That's when I realized that I still had my mask on.

"Why didn't you take my mask off?" I asked.

"No." he said, as he put the barrel up against my temple. "I don't give a shit about who you are. You're all the same to me."

"All the same? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"All of the criminals I've put down?" Leon asked. "You're all the same to me. That masked hero bullshit doesn't fool me. You are just as much a criminal as those gangster pieces of shit that I put down every day."

"No, you didn't put them down." I said, shaking my head. "You murdered them."

Leon pulled the shotgun away, cocked it and pressed it back up against my temple, only harder this time.

"You want me to open up your brain all over this rooftop? Is that what you want?" Leon asked. "Provoke me some more, and that'll happen!"

I said nothing.

"Wise choice." Leon said, tapping me not so gently in the head.

I let out a groan of irritation as he walked away, towards something that was covered by a tarp of some kind.

"Leon?" I asked.

He turned back around, pointing the Shotgun at me.

"How did you know my name?" he asked, walking back up to me.

"I have a file on you. With your picture, your name, details on your life, pictures of your victims." I said. "It really wasn't hard to find you."

"Sure it wasn't." he said, as he walked back over to the cover.

He pulled it off, revealing dozens and dozens of those military ammo cases that I've seen in video games and on T.V.

"So, uh, you have a family?" I asked.

"Stop." Leon said.

"What about a job? Did you ever spend time in the military?" I asked.

"Stop it now." Leon said.

"Stop what?" I asked.

"Stop digging for information. I'm not telling you shit." Leon said.

I ignored him and preceded with my questions.

"Okay, Leon. Who did you lose?" I asked. "Let me tell you something. No one is going to feel sorry for you! Why? Because no one feels pity for pyschos like you!"

Leon dropped the shotgun, turned around and walked over to me pretty fast. Once he reached me, he slugged me in the jaw, with all of the force he could muster.

I wanted to spit the blood that was welling up in my mouth, but I couldn't since I still had my mask on. After that, Leon pulled a block of wood to sit down on.

"Okay. Now it's my turn." he said.

"Shoot." I said.

"Why are you running around in a mask now? Trying to be a so called anti hero?" Leon asked. "I've researched you for so long and I've never seen you do something like that. Why now?"

"I'm doing this because I have an identity to protect. Unlike you, I have a life." I said.

He punched me in the jaw again.

"Why do you do what you do?" Leon asked.

"Because someone has to stand up to baddies like you. And I'm not afraid to do what needs to be done." I said.

"Has anyone told you that you're doing it wrong?" he asked.

"Excuse me, murderer supreme?" I asked.

"You're just putting them away. I'm putting them down so they can never again wreck havoc." Leon said.

"Who made you judge, jury and executioner all at the same time?" I asked.

"It's like you said, you pussy." Leon said. "Someone's got to do it. Otherwise, the 'baddies' live to walk and wreck havoc for another day."

I got infuriated after he called me that word.

"Hey, come here buddy. I want to tell you something." I said.

I have no idea how he fell for it, but he leaned closer to my face. Once he was close, I did my best to headbutt him as hard as humanly possible.

"Ow! Fuck!" Leon exclaimed.

I chuckled, once I realized that I had managed to hurt him for a second.

"You little shit! You'll get yours!" he exclaimed, as he went to grab the shotgun that he had dropped.

Before I could say or do anything, he whacked me in the jaw with the butt of his shotgun, knocking me out.

 _Sometime Later..._

I eventually came to, to see that Leon had unpacked a ton of gear. At least two bulletproof vests, at least three types of handguns, two AR-15s, a couple more shotguns, a sniper rifle and ton more ammo.

"I'm guessing that the average civilian can't get his hands on all of this stuff." I said.

Leon didn't say anything in return.

"So, what do you plan to do with all of that stuff?" I asked.

"Put down anything that commits crimes." he said. "Starting tonight."

"Tonight? Are you kidding me?" I asked. "You've been doing this for at least a couple weeks now, what do you mean starting tonight?"

"I mean that I'm going twenty four hour service starts tonight. I'm not stopping until this entire city is cleansed of all of those who are corrupt." Leon said.

"You can't that's my job! And I don't kill!" I said. "I may be trying to be an anti hero, but once you cross that line, I don't consider you a hero! You're a fucking pyschopath!"

Leon didn't say anything at first, surprisingly.

"You need to lay off of this thing you're doing." he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"This thing you're doing? You're not cut out for any of this." he said. "I highly suggest you crawl back into whatever hole you call home and never come back out. And stop using that phony voice. It's not doing anything for you. You sound-"

I cut him off.

"I'm not even out of my teens yet!" I said.

"Well, you sound ridiculous." Leon said.

"I take offense to that!" I said, in my normal voice.

"Go home." he said. "Now where are those flashbangs I misplaced?"

As he looked around the area, I felt aroun to see if I could get out of my chains. That's when I felt something in the shape of a short cylinder. I looked down at the flashbang that Leon claimed he had misplaced.

 _Why is his flashbang here?_

"Hey, Leon?" I asked.

"What?!" he screamed, as he looked at me holding his flashbang.

His face changed to a look of terror.

"Why so serious?" I asked, as I managed to pull the flashbang's pin with one hand.

I tossed it towards him, as he pulled a gun and I closed my eyes.

The bang still hurt my ears, but I wasn't blinded. Leon, on the other hand, was both blinded and temporarily made deaf.

All of a sudden, I noticed I could move. Leon had shot me loose while he was blinded! I opened my eyes again and ran towards Leon, whacking him in the leg with the chains that were still attached to one of my hands. He staggered and I tackled him to the floor of the roof we were on.

He lifted his handgun above my ear and fired, deafening me even further. Eventually Leon wasn't blinded anymore and ran to a big suitcase that hadn't been opened yet. He opened it up and pulled out an actual rocket launcher.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, moving out of the way as he fired it.

The rocket hit the pillar that I was chained to and collapsed. I hid behind the downed pillar and the rest of the debris.

"You might as well come on out." Leon said, as I heard him toss aside the launcher. "Let's talk out your permanent retirement."

 _He's right. I'm way in over my head. Maybe I should go home. Go home, back to Gwen and quit this anti hero thing. I have been increasingly violent lately. Alright, I'm doing it._

"Alright." I said. "I'm coming out."

"Great. Do just that." Leon said.

I let out a sigh, as I raised my hands in a surrender. I stood up and looked at Leon. And then, I heard a loud bang, along with feeling a jolt of pain through my shoulder and arm area. I looked down, to see droplets of blood on the floor of the roof.

I looked at Leon, to see his handgun smoking. I then touched my shoulder, and felt that it was wet. I brought my hand back, to see my fingers wet. And red. With my blood.

 _That asshole shot me._

"Leon?" I asked, as I felt my consciousness fading.

"Yeah, buddy?" he asked.

"You shot me, yo-" I spoke, but ended up not having the energy to finish my sentence.

"You'll be fine." Leon said.

I felt my eyes close, as I backed up and fell off of the rooftop.

A/N: So, that's the chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Um, so yeah. Ben has been shot. So, that's pretty much the end of this story arc. And if it weren't for him being shot, Ben would be going home. It'll just take a while now, but he will going home. Also, in the next chapter, we'll delve a little into Ben's past. So, please favorite and follow this story! If you want to submit opinions, don't hesitate to PM me or review. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye!


	23. Chapter 23: Injured

Chapter 23: Injured

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty three! In this chapter, along with Ben recovering from his injury, we'll be delving a little deeper into his past. Eventually, Ben will be going back home, but it will take a while. As for Leon, Ben hasn't seen the last of him, I'll just say that. So, without anything else to say, let's get on with this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Ten Years Ago_

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Ben and Gwen! Happy birthday to you!" A chorus of our family members sang happy birthday to Gwen and I.

Gwen and I both blew out the candles on each one of our cakes.

My father patted me on my shoulder.

"So how does it feel to be seven years old, buddy?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"It feels the same, I guess." I said. "It doesn't really make me feel special."

Gwen crossed her arms.

"I don't really know why we need to have our birthdays at the same birthday party." she said. "I'm older than you, Ben."

I smirked.

 _Leave it to the brat to state that._

"Oh, shut up, know it all. You're only older than me by a couple of hours!" I exclaimed.

I felt someone tap the back of my head, not so gently.

"Ben! Don't say that about your cousin!" my mom said, in a disapproving tone.

I turned to look at my mom.

"Mom, I was just teasing her!" I said.

"Don't worry, Aunt Sandra. I know how to put up with Ben." Gwen replied.

"Yeah, right. What are you gonna d-" I began to speak, when all of a sudden, Gwen grabbed my earlobe, twisted a little and pulled.

"Ow, ow! Gwen, let go! Ow!" I exclaimed.

I expected Gwen's mom or dad to do something, but they just laughed, along with my parents and our other relatives.

"Gwen, let go of me! Let go! Gwen! Gwen!" I exclaimed.

 _Present Day_

"Gwen." I said, in a hoarse, low voice as I began to wake up.

I looked around, finding myself lying in a dumpster after my fall. I lifted up my right hand and gripped the edge of the dumpster, pulling myself up. I winced in pain, as I felt a huge jolt of pain in my left shoulder. And then it all came back to me.

Leon shooting me in the shoulder and me falling off of the roof. I tried to get back up, but failed and fell back into the dumpster. I looked up to see a teenage boy looking down at me, with his eyes wide.

"Jesus Christ on a friggin' bike!" he exclaimed.

I wanted to say something, but my eyes just rolled back and I passed out again.

 _Seven Years Ago_

Gwen and I were sitting crossed legged, side by side, in the basement, playing Super Mario Bros. on the old SNES.

"God, Ben. Why can't you ever defeat Bowser? You fail everytime, Doofus!" Gwen exclaimed.

I shrugged.

"I guess it's my timing. It's horrible. And I don't work well under pressure." I said.

"So, the time limit on the game?" Gwen asked.

"I guess. Another thing is that my focus is horrid, maybe." I continued explaining. "The firesticks usually take me back down to a small Mario. Or, even if I manage to get to his area, he either get's me with his fireballs or he could land on me."

I tried to run underneath Bowser, but he landed on me.

"See? Just like that Gwen." I said.

She cracked up laughing. I looked at her, with an annoyed expression.

"What?" I asked.

"You know that happens everytime to you, right?" she asked.

"Oh, put a sock in it, Dweeb." I said.

Gwen just chuckled.

"Whatever, Doofus. You still suck at Mario, though. Don't sweat it." she said.

I looked around, to make sure my parents weren't down here with us. Once I had made sure, I looked back at Gwen.

"Oh, yeah? Well at least I'm not going to grow up to be a tomboy!" I hissed at her.

She just chuckled again.

"You don't even know what that means." she said, still chuckling.

"Well, I know that it means a girl with short hair, like me." I said.

Gwen roared with laughter.

"You couldn't be more wrong, could you?" she asked, after she finished laughing.

I looked down, my feelings hurt. Gwen didn't notice.

"Just take your turn." I said, in a low, irritated voice.

Of course, Gwen didn't notice that either.

 _Present Day_

They say that your whole world flashes before your eyes when you die. And it's true. I sat straight up, gasping for air. Once I did, I tried to get a look at my surroundings. I was in an apartment, but before I could get a look at anything else, someone spoke to me.

"Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!" A female voice asked.

I still sat there, trying to catch my breath.

"Who? What? Where am I?" I asked, as I continued to look around.

"You're in my apartment. Don't worry, you're safe." the woman said.

I finally looked at the woman, for some reason coming to the realization that I was blind. The woman had a tan, and had medium long black hair. She also had somewhat brown eyes, maybe hazel colored.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is who you are." she said. "And also how you got into the dumpster outside my building."

"I was shot." I said, as I felt my face.

"Yeah, I got that part. The bullet went clean through, by the way." she said. "How did you wind up in the dumpster?"

"I fell. From the roof." I said, realizing that my mask was off.

"You were on the roof? Why?" she asked.

I ignored her question.

"My mask. You've seen my face?" I asked.

The woman nodded.

"Now, why were you on the roof?" she asked.

"Irrelevant." I said. "Why is my mask off? Don't you respect a secret identity?"

"Sorry if I had to ID you after the kid upstairs brought you in." she said. " _Why were you on the roof?_ "

"It doesn't matter!" I exclaimed. "Why couldn't you just leave the mask on?!"

"I don't care if you have a secret identity. Now tell me why you were on the roof!" she exclaimed.

"I was taken hostage by a pyschopath named Leon Jones!" I exclaimed. "Happy?!"

Her face cooled.

"Thank you. Why were you captured by him?" she asked.

"I was trailing him. I'm that Alien Guy from the news." I said.

"You're Alien Guy? Well, your outfit kind of sucks!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks, I'm working on it." I said.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Why do you need to know? And I'm not telling you my name." I said. "You seeing my face is enough."

"I bandaged your shoulder and disinfected it _and_ resuscitated you, but I still need to get you to a hospital." she said.

"No way. Not going to happen. I'm not going to any hospital. I'm risking your safety by being here enough as it is." I said.

"What do you mean?" the lady asked.

"There is a gun wielding pyschopath outside and I can't go back out there right now!" I said.

"Oh, right. So, what do I call you then?" she asked.

"I don't know! Make something up!" I said. "What about you? What do I call you?"

She sighed.

"My name is Julie Yamamoto." she said.

"How did you patch me up?" I asked.

"I'm in Med School, Brian." Julie said.

"Brian?" I asked.

"You said come up with something. Brian i- was, my father's name." she said.

"I take it, he's no longer with us?" I asked.

She shedded a tear.

"Fireman. September 11th, 2001. His body was never found." she said.

"I'm sorry." I said.

She shrugged.

"It's not your fault. But if you're Alien Guy, helping to stop crime in the city, it's not so bad." Julie said. "I mean, sure, my father is still dead, but you can make it all the better. Since he was a fireman, I wanted to go above that. So, I'm in Med School training to be a Nurse or a Doctor. Whichever."

"I hope it goes well." I said, as I stood up, holding my shoulder. "Thanks for the help, but I got to go."

"You can't go anywhere!" Julie exclaimed. "You were shot, God knows how long ago!"

"Yeah, and there's a madman on the loose. What's your point?" I asked.

"My point is that you need to lie down and rest for at least a couple days!" Julie said.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Fine give me my T-shirt back and my mask. I'll lie down." I said. "I call the couch."

"You can take my bed." Julie said.

"No offense, Ms. Yamamoto, but we don't know eachother. I'm taking the couch." I said, as I lied down onto the couch, resting my head on a pillow.

Julie tossed me my shirt. I grabbed it from the air.

"Thanks." I said, as I closed my eyes.

A/N: So, what did you guys think of this chapter? What did you think of the first two flashbacks, describing Ben and Gwen's "tragic" past? As for Ben talking about the world flashing before your eyes when you die? Although not mentioned, I will say that it would be suggested that Ben's heart actually stopped for a minute before Julie got his heart to restart. Speaking of Julie, what did you think of her introduction into this version of the Ben 10 universe? So, don't forget to favorite or follow the story. If you want to submit your opinion, I'm pretty sure ya'll know what to do, I don't think I have to say it anymore. I'm going to go though, so have a great night, and bye!


	24. Chapter 24: Life and Death

Chapter 24: Life and Death

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to the twenty-fourth chapter! I'll admit it. In this chapter, someone will die. It won't be one of the protangists, though, I can promise you that. In the coming chapters, the "Leon Jones" character will finish his transformation into a villain who's name will remain secret for now. Only a select few have figured out which villain Leon is shaping up to be and for that, I applaud you. Also, there will not be an A/N at the end of the chapter, due to a dramatic ending, I see it as. Anyway, let's get on with this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Seven Years Ago_

"Give me the controller, Gwen!" I exclaimed, as I grabbed it while it was still in her hands.

"Just one more turn!" Gwen said, as she tried to pull the controller from my hands.

"Hey, my nintendo, my turn!" I exclaimed, as I continued to pull on the controller. "Now hand it over!"

"Oops." Gwen said, as she let go of the controller, as I was forcefully pulling on it, causing me to fall backwards.

I looked up at her from my place on the floor, grinning from ear to ear in response to me falling backwards.

"What'd you do that for?!" I exclaimed, growing even more angry.

Gwen just shrugged.

"You said you wanted it, so I gave you your controller back." she said, before laughing.

"You are such a brat!" I exclaimed.

"And you are annoying! What's your point?" Gwen said.

"My point is you don't play well with others, you spoiled brat!" I said.

Gwen looked surprised.

"Oh, I'm the spoiled one?" Gwen asked, as she looked around the room. "What about all this nice furniture, the flat screen T.V, the nintendo, plus the Xbox you're getting for your birthday? How am I the spoiled one?"

"Oh, shut up!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, now you're the brat." Gwen said, as she frowned. "I know how to play well with others. You, on the other hand, you don't know how to share. Sharing is caring!"

"What, did they teach you that in school?" I asked.

"You know it's the truth." Gwen said, as she crossed her arms.

"Get out." I whispered.

"Excuse me?" Gwen asked.

"Get out of my basement, Gwen. I don't want you here." I said.

"What are you saying?" she asked.

"Don't make me say it." I said angrily, dreading the three words I didn't want to say.

"What are you saying?" she asked again, sounding impatient.

"Get out, Gwen! I don't want to see you!" I exclaimed. "I _hate_ you!"

Gwen looked speechless. She looked like she wanted to cry. Eventually, instead of crying, she just frowned.

"Well, fine then!" she exclaimed, as she whipped around and stormed off. "I never want to see you again!"

"Fine!" I exclaimed. "I never want to see _you_ again!"

"Fine!" Gwen exclaimed, as she stormed up the stairs.

I remained in the basement as she was upstairs, probably tattling on me to my parents. It wasn't until months later that I would regret every word said that day.

 _Present Day_

I stared up at the ceiling, after waking up from the dream. I had woken up from the dream about halfway through the memory and I was forced to relive it while I was awake.

I sat up, as I covered my eyes. I had been so mean and hurtful that day, and for reasons I didn't know. I took my hands off of my eyes and slipped my boots back on. I put my leather jacket back on over my T-shirt.

"You going somewhere?" I heard Julie ask.

"Yeah." I said. "I need to head out."

"Brian, you haven't even been here a full day. You need to stay here another day before I can let you go." Julie said. "You were shot! Do you even get that?"

"Yes, I do. But do you get that there is a gun wielding lunatic on the loose? I need to apprehend him!" I said.

I let out a sigh, as I still didn't like her calling me Brian. Then again, I couldn't tell her my real name or anything about me. So, what was she supposed to call me? I slipped on my black gloves. Following that, I slipped my black mask back on.

"And, I really can't express my thanks enough, for your doing this." I said, turning back to face her.

"Of course. I mean, you'd do the same for me, right?" she asked.

"Well, I'd try." I said. "I'm not medically trained like you are."

"Well, I'm not trained. I'm _in_ training." Julie said.

"Well, whatever, I guess." I said.

I put my wrist gauntlets back onto my wrists.

"What are those?" Julie asked.

"My wrist gauntlets. They allow me to grapple from place to place." I said.

"That's cool, I guess." she said.

"I'll tell you one thing about me. I'm something of an inventor." I said, as I walked over to the window.

"What? Are you leaving through the window?" Julie asked.

"Yeah. I'm not going to look like a freak by walking out your door in this." I said.

"Well, thanks for being considerate I guess." Julie said.

I was about to open her window, but stopped. I looked back at Julie.

"Hey, uh, what's your phone number?" I asked.

Julie raised an eyebrow.

"Are you seriously trying to flirt with me?" she asked, as she smirked.

I shook my head.

"No. But if I get shot up again, I'd like to know that there is someone I can come to for help, that is if I stay conscious long enough to call." I said.

She just continued smirking.

"Brian, let me tell you something." she said. "I have med school and on top of that, I have a shit job to help me pay rent. You're lucky I was available the first time."

She sighed, before going into the other room. She eventually came back with a scrap of paper in her hand.

"This better not be an attempt to flirt with me." she said, as she handed it to me.

I smirked underneath my mask.

"Oh, please. I have a significant other." I lied.

I turned around, slipping the paper scrap into my pocket. I opened the window.

"But seriously, thanks for everything you've done for me." I said. "But I really need to go."

Julie said nothing and a few seconds later, I lept out the window.

 _Seven Years Ago_

"- Happy birthday, dear Ben! Happy birthday to you!" my relatives sang.

I looked around the room. All of my relatives and friends were here, except for Gwen, her brother and her parents.

I looked up at my mom.

"Why isn't Gwen here?" I asked, in a sad tone.

My mom and dad exchanged glances, before my father spoke.

"When we extended the invitation to Gwen's, he told us that she didn't want to come up. Something about she's mad at you." he said.

I looked back at the cake with the eleven candles, as a couple of tears began to form in my eyes.

I couldn't do anything but just put my hands over my eyes and begin to cry.

 _Present Day_

I had returned to the roof where Leon had shot me. He was nowhere to be found, but all of his stuff was still here.

 _Where could he have gone?_

I looked around the place. Still no sign of him. I walked past the access door, and just as I did, it swung open and hit me in my bad shoulder.

"Ow, God damn! That smarts!" I exclaimed, as I fell, holding my shoulder.

"Sorry about that old chap!" I heard someone exclaim.

I groaned as I rolled over, recognizing the voice. It was the same tone that the cold cackle I heard in my lab had. I got up, to see the door still open, but no one was in the stairwell.

I walked around for a little bit, before I heard noises coming from the stairwell. Before I could go look, someone with a bag over their head was pushed through the door. And then, the man himself, Leon Jones walked through the door.

He saw me, as he picked up his prisoner from the ground.

"Hello, _Alien Guy_." he said, as he walked across the roof and sat his prisoner down on a block of wood.

"Surprised to see me alive?" I asked.

"Not really." Leon said. "I shot you with a weaker handgun. That was a peashooter compared to some of the other hand cannons that I have."

"So, you're saying the pain I felt was nothing compared to-" I spoke, but Leon said interrupted.

"Yes. That pain was nothing." he said.

"Who's your prisoner?" I asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." he said, as he walked over to his stash of weapons.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Leon ignored me for a few seconds.

"Ah, my favorite handgun." he said, as he picked up a bigger handgun then the one he had shot me with.

It was a Beretta maybe? I don't know.

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

Leon ignored me. He walked over to his target and ripped the bag off of their head. It was Animo. Leon's prisoner was Animo.

"Animo?" I asked.

Animo didn't say anything at first.

"You don't sound like Tenn-" he began to speak, but Leon whacked him in the head.

"What did I tell you?!" he exclaimed. "I told you not to speak, unless you are spoken to first!"

"What are you going to do to him?" I asked.

Leon looked back at me, with an angry look on his face.

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to kill him!" he exclaimed.

"Why? What did he do to you?" I asked.

"What did he do to me?" Leon asked, as he cocked his head at me. "What did this degenerate do to me?! He killed my family!"

A chill went down my spine after he said this.

 _This man? This former scientist killed Leon's family?_

"Well actually, _I_ had to kill my family, because of what this _creature_ did to them!" Leon exclaimed.

It took a few seconds for me to speak.

"How?" I asked. "What did he do?"

"I've read the papers." Leon said. "You diffused one of his gas bombs in downtown, haven't you?"

"Yeah. That was me." I said.

"He set off a smaller bomb in the apartment that I lived in with my wife and little boy." Leon said. "Just a couple of months before he attempted the big one in downtown."

"I see that you were unscathed." I said.

"The only reason I was spared was because of I was out getting chinese food. We watched Spongebob every night with dinner. I remember." Leon said, smiling at the thought of his memories.

"And it's your fault!" he shouted, pointing his gun at me. "It's your fault. You could have stopped him!"

I just stood there, waiting for him to shoot me again. He didn't.

"I can't be in two places at once." I said. "If you're going to shoot me, just do it already."

Leon lowered his weapon.

"No. I'm not going to shoot you again. I'm saving this bullet for this fiend." he said in an angry tone.

"I remember. When I walked into our apartment after he had detonated the bomb, my wife and son came at me like a pack of ravenous wolves." he said.

"I'm sorry." I said.

"You're not sorry." Leon said, as tears came to his eyes. "I had to put both of them down."

I didn't think that Leon could actually cry. But here he was.

"They deserved it. It's the next step in-" Animo began to speak, but Leon was on him in a matter of seconds.

Leon grabbed his with both hands after dropping his gun and threw him through the open door, down the stairwell. He ran down after him and I heard multiple strikes hitting Animo.

After maybe a minute, Leon brought him back up, Animo's face being bloodied up. Leon placed him back on the log.

"Remember your place, shitbag." Leon said, through gritted teeth.

Leon looked back at me.

"Now, you're going to watch." he said.

"I won't let you kill this man." I said.

"You're going to watch me kill this animal." he said.

"I won't let you." I said in a harsh tone.

"You'll watch!" Leon exclaimed.

"Leon! Shut the fuck up and listen to me!" I exclaimed, my voice full of anger.

He just looked at me.

"I have to kill him." Leon said in a firm tone.

"Leon, you listen and you listen well." I said. "It's not your choice. And even if you do kill Animo, it won't make the pain go away. So, you'll go out and find another person to blame for your family's death. And another, and another. Until one morning you wake up and realize that you're a horrible person that has spent his whole life killing others."

Leon shook his head.

"This animal is insane and I have the cure for him. A bullet." Leon said.

"It's not your choice!" I exclaimed. "Animo has to stand before a court and a judge. And even if he faces the death penalty, you will _not_ be the one to do it."

Leon just looked at me.

"You're right." he said. "It isn't up to me."

He let out a sigh as another tear rolled down his cheek. Leon looked up at the night sky.

"Hey, Animo?" Leon asked.

"What?" Animo asked.

"Did you see Spongebob tonight?" Leon asked.

"No. Why?" Animo asked.

Leon turned his head and looked at Animo, with a calm expression on his face.

Then, Leon aimed his gun at Animo's face. And fired.


	25. Chapter 25: Turning Up The Heat

Chapter 25: Turning Up The Heat

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty five! In this chapter, Leon and Ben will engage in an arguement before fighting a resurrected Animo. A lot of you will be saying: But Animo was killed off in the last chapter! Well, don't worry. You'll see that in this story, any dead characters won't stay dead for long. After this chapter, Lucky Girl will finally be making her appearance in the Lucky Girl story arc. And after that, Ben will be facing his first super villain team, the team appearing in a sort of epilogue at the end of the chapter. Without anything else to be said, let's get on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

The echo of the gunshot rang in my ears. The spray of blood that came from Animo's gunshot wound to the head hit me in the face. I wiped the blood from my mask, as I realized what Leon had done.

"What the hell have you done?" I asked.

Leon pulled back on his handgun, uncocking it.

"I got revenge." he said. "Sweet, sweet revenge."

"It wasn't up to you! You can't just kill! There has to be a judge, a jury! An-" I began to speak, but Leon interrupted me, pointing his gun at me.

I backed up out of fear.

"Shut your fucking mouth." he said, as he cocked the handgun. "I gave you a chance to quit. I gave you a chance to go back to whatever hole you came from. And you didn't listen!"

"I didn't listen?!" I exclaimed. "What about you?! You didn't listen! Leon, you can't just go around killing people, no matter what happened in your past!"

"Scream at me again. Do it and I will shoot you and kill you. Right here and right now." Leon said, sounding very angry.

I slowly walked up to Leon, until the barrel of his handgun pressed into my forehead. I slowly and gently grabbed his wrist and lowered the gun forcefully.

"No. You won't." I said. "What you are going to do, is surrender. You're going to lay down your gun and turn yourself in for the murder of Animo."

"You think that I'll surrender?!" Leon asked, pushing me backwards, onto the ground. "Now, I'm going to kill _you!_ You should have been there for my family, but you weren't! I _have_ to kill you!"

Leon pointed his gun at me.

"Any last words?" he asked.

I slowly got up, Leon keeping his aim on my head the whole way up.

"You give me no choice." I said, as I reached for the alien watch. "I have to take you in."

But before I could dial up the watch, I heard an loud scream of agony. And it wasn't Leon. He and I both looked over to Animo's body, to see Animo was holding his head as he screamed in agony.

"B-b-but, I killed him!" Leon gasped, as we walked up to Animo.

I looked down at Animo, as he continued to scream. That's when I noticed the hole in his forehead, or rather, the lack of a hole in his head.

I remembered when Grandpa Max had told me about Animo's past. If he could have made himself into a giant goliath, did he have a healing factor, too?

Animo's screams gradually changed from agony filled screams, to rage filled screams. Eventually, his screams stopped and were replaced of growls of anger. He moved his hands away from his eyes, revealing his eyes to be glowing green.

Leon and I both backed up, as we watched Animo's body begin to rip through his clothes. Yes, you heard me right. Leon and I both exchanged glances of fear, before looking back at Animo, as he grew exponentially in size.

He eventually stopped growing in size, being even bigger than Kevin's mutated alien form and bigger than _Fourarms!_ So, he was big! He had green hair, instead of his gray hair and his eyes remained the glowing green. His skin was pale white and his muscle density had increased greatly. The only clothes had left were the pants he had been wearing, which were torn just above his knees.

And it was true. He had long, talon-like fingers.

The monster that used to be Animo just stood there, growling angrily.

"What the fuck?" Leon asked, his voice surprising full of fear.

"Don't move. Maybe his vision is based on our movement." I said.

The monster looked at me, his growls becoming more aggressive. I didn't dare move. He finally took one step and I think that was it for Leon. He dove for one of his guns and the beast let out a roar of fury.

As he went for Leon, no matter how much I hated him for almost killing Animo, I decided to distract savage Animo. Yeah, that's what I'll call him. Savage Animo.

"Here!" I exclaimed, as I jumped in front of Savage Animo.

Once I was in front of him, Savage Animo roared with fury as he beat his chest. He got into a striking stance and just before he struck, I lept out of the way, narrowly missing being struck. However, he grazed my bad shoulder with his talon.

"Agh!" I screamed, as I fell to the ground.

I turned around, to see that Savage Animo had gotten his talons stuck into the floor of the roof. He seemed to be struggle to free himself, so I ran over to Leon, as he got his gun ready.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaimed.

"I'm gonna kill him before he can kill us." Leon said.

"Are you kidding me?!" I said. "I can't allow you to do that."

Leon might have spoken to me, but I heard Savage Animo roar from behind us. I turned around, just in time to see him running towards us. We both moved out of the way, as Savage Animo slammed both of his fists into the ground, sending Leon's firearms all over.

"Buy me some time!" Leon said, as ran to a pile of his weapons.

I didn't have time to protest, so I dialed up the alien watch. I transformed into Fourarms and ran over to attempt to contain Savage Animo. I jumped onto his back and held him in a headlock.

He let out a roar as he staggered around, trying to throw me off of his back.

"You're still a little man in there Animo!" I exclaimed. "Now calm down before I have to snap your neck!"

He let out a louder roar and began to struggle harder. In retaliation, I move my hands to his neck and began to pull. But Savage Animo managed to grab hold of me and threw me over his shoulder.

I quickly recovered and got back up to continue combating Savage Animo. He was surprisingly good at countering my attacks. He would counter almost all of the punchs I threw and then would attempt to strike me or he would knee me in the stomach.

A few seconds later, I heard gunfire. And a mixture of Savage Animo's agony and rage filled screams.

"I think you pissed him off!" I exclaimed.

Savage Animo got down on one knee and just stayed like that. That's when I noticed him grunting in pain and I heard the sounds of the bullets that Leon had fired into him, just popping out of his back.

I ran around him to look at his back and was astonished to see that the slits in his skin - from the bullets - were healing in just micro seconds. It was like Leon _hadn't_ unloaded an entire clip on his back.

"We might be in trouble." I said.

"Yeah." Leon said, as he backed up. "Buy me some more time!"

I let out a sigh as he ran to the other end of the roof and began digging through another pile of his weapons. I heard Savage Animo let out a roar of fury. I turned around, just in time to see him charging towards me. I didn't have time to move out of the way and he collided with me, continuing to charge, as if I were a battering ram.

Savage Animo rammed me into the wall of a taller building, adjacent to the roof we were gone. Instead of attempting to impale me with his finger talons, he began hitting me with force. I put my feet up against his chest and kicked Savage Animo backwards.

I charged towards him and put as much force as I could into punching him in the jaw. He staggered backwards and after letting out a roar of rage, started throwing strikes at me with his talons, trying to cut me.

I kept backing up, dodging his attacks. I heard Leon running up behind him and begin blasting Savage Animo in the back with a shotgun several times. Savage Animo let out a furious roar and turned to attack Leon.

I noticed the wounds on his back, and skin missing. But the skin began to regenerate rapidly. And Leon shot Savage Animo in the face. And even _that_ didn't stop him! Savage Animo staggered backwards and whirled around, revealing a hole in the upper right corner of his face. I could see parts of his skull.

But I didn't see those parts for long, as Savage Animo's face quickly regenerated. He seemed to move his neck in such a way to pop it and then charged me again. I charged towards him and punched him in the jaw as hard as I could, causing him to go off course.

Once he was off course, I looked at Leon.

"Can you conjure up something that will actually put him down for more than a second?" I asked.

"Give me some time." he said, as he ran over to another pile of weapons.

I let out a sigh, as I turned to see Savage Animo slowly stepping up to me.

"Dr. Animo! I know you're still in there!" I exclaimed. "It's time to calm down!"

Savage Animo obviously didn't have a revelation, because he let out a very loud roar of fury and charged towards me faster than he had done before. I charged forwards as well, meeting with him and trying to push him backwards. I managed to push him backwards, but only by a little bit. Savage Animo was even stronger than Fourarms it seemed.

I summoned all of the strength I could and continued to push him back. Then, Savage Animo pushed me back even harder, sending me backwards. He was about to charge towards me again, when all of a sudden, Leon shouted at me.

"Get down! Now!" he exclaimed.

I turned to look at him, as Savage Animo seemed to do the same. Leon was holding one of his M16 rifles, with what looked like an underbarrel launcher.

"Oh shit." I cursed under my breath, as I hit the deck.

I heard the sound of the laucher firing, accompanied with the sound of Savage Animo's pained screams. His screams ceased not even a second later, when I heard a loud explosion, followed by the feeling of blood splattering on the back of my jacket and I could of sworn I felt pieces of meat as well.

I got up, to see Savage Animo just standing there, motionless. He was groaning silently with pain. I noticed the gaping hole in his stomach, signature of the grenade he had taken. It was so big, that I could see parts of his spine. His eyes rolled back up into his head and he fell over, causing a loud crash when he met the floor of the roof.

Breathing heavily, I looked at Leon. He dropped the rifle, as he took a breath.

"We even?" I asked.

"Yeah. I think so." he said.

We stood there for a minute, not noticing that Savage Animo was slowly getting up. We finally did notice, when he started grunting. We looked in his direction, to see that he had stood back up and was grunting in pain.

"What the hell? Come on!" I exclaimed.

Savage Animo still had the hole in his stomach. But not for long. The veins, arteries, muscle structure and skin was slowly regenerating. But it started to regenerate faster and faster.

"We are in big doo-doo dis time." I said, my voice full of fear.

Leon looked at me with an uncertain look on his face.

"Did you just quote that Gungan Captain from The Phantom Menace?" he asked.

"Maybe I did." I replied, as Savage Animo finished regenerating.

"Alien Guy?" Leon asked, as Savage Animo began to growl angrily.

"What?" I asked.

"You're an idiot." he said.

"Oh, yeah." I replied in return.

Savage Animo let out a roar of fury as he charged towards me, ready to strike. I closed my eyes and awaited the strike. But it never occurred. I heard the sound of flesh tearing accompanied with Savage Animo's agitated screams.

I opened my eyes, to see that Savage Animo had a grappling hook stuck into his back and was being carried off of the roof, as he waved his arms about, trying to free himself.

"What the hell?" I asked, as I looked up at the small aircraft carrying him off.

"Sorry, my friend! I must borrow this one from you for a while!" I heard a familiar voice.

I looked up to see Vilgax hanging out of the open door of the aircraft, holding the grappel gun that was pulling Savage Animo into the air.

"Vilgax!" I exclaimed.

He ignored me.

"Get us out of here!" he called to the pilot, I was guessing. "We're done here! Sit tight my friend, you'll see us again soon!"

I sighed, as I saw the ship moving out of sight. I turned around, to see Leon pointing a rifle at me.

"I don't understand." I said, as he looked at me with hate.

"No. You don't. I'm going after Animo and that thing. And this time, you won't stop me!" he said.

"I thought we were even." I said.

"We were. And then you let Animo get away." Leon said. "And now I'm going after him. And you won't stop me."

"I can't stop you. But I need to help you. You don't know Vilgax." I said. "He's dangerous."

"No. You're not getting in my way anymore." Leon said. "Good bye, Alien Guy."

Before he could fire at me, I charged him and got one set of my arms around him, sending us off of the roof. When we were on the ground, he began shouting at me.

"It's your fault that Animo got taken by that thing!" he exclaimed, as he drew his pistol from it's holster. "And now I'm going to make sure you don't get in my way ever again!"

He fired at me, but the gunfire didn't seem to hurt me in my Fourarms form. I approached him and picked him up with one of my hands.

"Don't make me do this. Don't make me have to hurt you." I said.

Leon struggled against my grip, before managing to shoot me. I let out a grunt of anger, as I slammed him into the hood of a car. He recovered after only a few seconds and started shooting at me again. I dodged the bullets, for reasons I didn't know, since they didn't hurt me.

"Stop making me do this!" I exclaimed.

He ignored me and started hitting me with the butt of his pistol, seeing as it was out of ammo.

 _If he's going to keep trying to kill me, I have to get him away from here._

So, I started leaping, to get us to a less crowded area. I kept leaping with him in my grip, until we were at a deserted gas station. When we landed, my foot connected with the ground wrong, causing me to trip and fall. Leon fell out of my grip and rolled himself away from me.

I got to cover myself, as I heard him reloading his pistol. He started firing, which all things considered, was a terrible idea on his part. I emerged from my cover, with the intent of warning him.

"Leon, stop shooting! You shouldn't be shooting with these gas pumps around us! You could hit one!" I exclaimed.

He didn't regard my warning.

"I'm going to kill you tonight, Alien Guy!" he exclaimed, as he continued shooting.

I took cover again, hissing in frusteration as I heard one of his bullets hit something metal. Being curious and fearful, I peaked around my cover, to see what he had hit. The first thing I saw was the dark brownish liquid flowing out onto the ground.

 _Oh, shit. The gasoline!_

I fully emerged from my cover again. I began to shout at Leon.

"Leon, stop fi-"

 _BANG!_

 _A Few Minutes Later..._

When I came to, I was back in my human form. There were flames everywhere. All of the stations, tanks, whatever, had exploded. It would be a wonder if Leon was still alive. And as my luck would have it, he was still alive. Possibly crippled. But alive.

I got up and walked around, looking for him. And eventually I found him. The flames from the explosion had charred what was left of his skin. It looked like his clothes had been burned to his body in some areas. But the worst part? He was still alive through it all. It must have been slow and painful.

And he was also still conscious. He noticed me.

"Leon!" I gasped, upon seeing him.

His hair was gone. The flames had practically cooked him. Charred to a crisp.

He looked at me and even with his severely disfigured face, I could see the hate in his eyes.

"I hate you." he slurred, with an accompanied gurgling sound.

I just looked at him.

After calling 911 and reporting our position, I looked back down at him. I got on one knee so I was closer to him.

"The paramedics will do what they can." I said, my voice full of sorrow. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Leon."

He looked at me with that same hateful look.

"F-f-fuck y-you." he slurred.

I sighed and shook my head as I got up. I slowly walked away, with my hands in my pocket. Whatever would happen to Leon, my troubles with him were over. And as for my life? He was right. I wasn't ready to be an anti-hero. So tomorrow, I was going back home to see Gwen.

Epilogue

 _?_

"Bring him in." I said.

The giant hanger doors opened and Vilgax wheeled in our recruit, who was strapped to a stretcher, which was adjusted so he was upright, instead of laying down.

"Here he is, your majesty." Vilgax said.

I grinned.

"I love that title." I said, as I tapped my talon to the arm of my chair. I got up and slowly made my way over to our recruit. "Let's see, who do we have today?"

"Vilgax, Aloysius James Animo, -"

I was about to continue, when Animo let out a roar of fury. I looked at Vilgax.

"Christ, Vilgax. Is Animo's inhibitor chip on?" I asked.

Animo cleared his throat.

"Sorry about that." he said. "I'm not quite used to being able to control myself in this form."

"Animo, we had that chip made and implanted into the base of your neck so you can actually control yourself. Try to focus." I said. "And don't let it happen again."

Animo nodded.

"Anyway, we have our latest recruit, Leon Jones." I said.

I looked at Leon, strapped into his stretcher.

"I want to see a world without Alien Guy." I said. "With our combined strength, the team I'm putting together, we can crush Alien Guy. Vilgax, open the chamber."

Vilgax walked over to said chamber and opened it, revealing the black and purple armored suit that we had specifically made for Leon.

I turned to look at Leon.

"You get in that suit, you can breath normally, walk again and so much more. You'll be a force to be wreckened with, a walking, breathing tank. You in?" I asked.

Leon didn't speak for a minute.

"Yeah." he slurred.

I grinned.

"Good." I said, as I turned myself around.

 _We only had one more member to fill the team and after that, Ben Tennyson would be crushed. Nothing will stop the Insidious Seven!_

A/N: So, what did you guys think of this chapter? What did you think of the fight between, Ben, Leon and Savage Animo? And then the fight between Leon and Ben that would end in a explosion? Who do you think this mysterious leader of the Insidious Seven is, that was displayed in the epilogue? Anyway, can you guys guess who the villain Leon is shaping up to be? Anyway, I'm gonna go guys, be here for the next chapter, the start of the Lucky Girl arc, and I'll be back next week with a new chapter!


	26. Chapter 26: Lucky Girl: Part One

Chapter 26: Lucky Girl: Part 1

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty six! So, this is the chapter that a lot of you have been waiting for! This chapter will be the first appearance for Lucky Girl! I will also say that Sixsix will be making his "first appearance" in this chapter. I don't really know what else to say before we begin the chapter. Oh, wait, I will say this: If you are a die hard Ben 10 fan, like if you've been around since the original series, than you'll appreciate the last spoken line of the chapter! So, with nothing else to be said, on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

I sat against a wall, asking myself if Leon had died from his injuries. I was brought out of my thoughts, when I saw someone - or something - fly by in like a high tech black and purple armor.

"Now that's something you don't see everyday." I said, turning to keep my eye on the thing's direction. "Almost everyday."

I dove from the wall of the building and grappled to another building, trying to get closer to that thing.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, as I moved closer to the flying thing.

He turned his head to look at me, before redirecting his attention to the direction he was going.

"Where'd you get the cool suit?" I asked, as he came to a stop, looking at me.

I stopped and stood on a rooftop, as the thing hovered just a couple feet away from me.

"As you can see, I'm just a Do-It-Yourself costume-wearing snob." I said.

The floating thing said nothing. He just kept floating there. That's when I noticed some kind of bright violet outline glowing around the thing's fists. He then pointed his fists at me and blasted some sort of super heated plasma energy.

Before the plasma could hit me, I flipped out of the way.

"Okay, fine! It's a nice suit!" I exclaimed, as the thing flew away.

I wasn't going to let that thing get away. I dialed up the alien watch and quickly transformed into XLR8. Once I had transformed, I sprinted after the thing, trying to catch up with it.

I caught up with him, just in time to witness him launch another plasma energy strike into the streets. The energy strikes hit a few light poles, bringing them down on cars and innocent people.

"Are you kidding me?!" I exclaimed, as the thing flew ahead of me, leaving me to tend to his victims.

I ran over to one of the cars and forced one of the doors open. I pulled the lady who was inside out of the car. After that, I moved to the next car and repeated the process. And after that, I moved on to the people trapped underneath the light poles and lifted them up, freeing them.

"What the hell was that thing?!" one of the people asked. "What the hell are you?!"

"I don't know what it was." I said. "As for me? I'm still figuring it out."

I looked behind me, to see that the thing was just down the street, just floating there, staring at me.

 _Did he just wait for me while I was tending to the civilians?_

I sprinted forwards to the thing to give a piece of my mind.

"Alright, I don't know who you think you are, but I ju-" I was speaking, when the thing cut me off, by throwing a ball to the ground, which created a wall of impassable energy. Then, the thing flew away.

"And now, I'm talking to myself again." I said, as I looked for a way around the wall.

I noticed that the wall didn't go that high, so I just sprinted up the wall of an adjacent building and around the energy wall. And after doing that, it was back to chasing that thing.

I eventually caught up with him, running right next to him, on a rooftop.

"Hey, what say we stop this chase and get a late dinner, alright? I'm buying!" I exclaimed, as the thing kept flying.

The thing increased his flying speed, getting ahead of me again.

"Just a suggestion!" I exclaimed, as I continued to chase after him.

After a couple more minutes of chasing him, he busted through the windows of an office building.

 _Damn it_ , I thought, as I picked up my speed.

I entered the office building through the shattered windows and surveyed the area. There were some flames and people caught in their cubicles because of it.

I busted my hands through one cubicle, and sprinted with them over to the doors to the stairwell. Once there, I put them down and pointed to the doors.

"Go. Get out!" I said. "When you get to the ground floor, call 911 and tell them that there's a fire on this floor, to send an ambulance!"

The man nodded and ran through the doors. Then, I repeated that process for the rest of those that were trapped. After that had been done, I ran to the other side of the office building, where that flying man-thing had made his exit through another set of shattered windows.

"Where'd he g-" I was asking outloud, as I was looking out the window, I got cut off. He must have been waiting for me to my right, because I was pushed out of the window by force.

Next thing I knew, I was free falling to the ground. And that flying thing slammed into me and grabbed me, increasing the speed of my decent. We eventually slammed into the pavement, with me taking most of the force of the impact.

Once we were on the ground, he launched himself back into the air, only two or three feet from the street. He started hitting me with barrages of that plasma energy that he could fire from his palms.

I easily sped out of the way, dodging the blasts. He flew towards me, hoping to impact me again. Once he got close enough, I kicked him in the jaw, sending him upwards. He recovered, flying back down, blasting me with plasma energy all the way down.

His assault caught me off guard, causing me to fall to the ground. Once I had recovered, I got back up and looked around for him. He was gone. I turned to look at a few pedestrians looking at me.

"Hey, I know that you guys get this all the time, but did you see where that black and purple armored thing went?" I asked.

They pointed up into the air. I looked up, to see a gigantic sort of airship. Only, it wasn't exactly an airship.

"The S.E.C.T. helicarrier?" I asked. "Just great."

Just then, the alien watch timed out. I dialed it back up, since I had disabled most of the features that would limit my former anti-hero life. I transformed into Heatblast and used his his energy and fire to sort of fly myself up there, if that makes sense.

I tried my best to keep on the thing as it flew up to the helicarrier, but it eventually beat me there and made a hole in one of the carrier's walls. I eventually flew through the hole and saw the damage that the thing had left in it's wake.

 _Just follow the trail of destruction_ , I thought as I slowly walked forward.

I jumped back into the air and my lower body, sort of transformed into a cyclone of flames, flying me forward. I kept following the trail, until I eventually came to a big room, with a giant glass cylinder in the middle of it, which had been shattered, with some sort of liquid all over the floor of the room.

"What the hell?" I asked, as I touched down on the floor.

I approached the shattered cylinder, looking up and down as I did.

"Something was held in here." I said to myself. "But question is, whe-"

My speech was cut off, when I heard a roar from my right.

 _No, don't tell me it's Savage Animo again._

I turned to my right to see Kevin, in his mutated form, charging towards me. I tried to dodge his attack, but he was fast. He had gotten one of his hands wrapped around my body and threw me across the room.

I slowly pushed myself back up as I recovered.

 _Son of a bitch caught me off guard. He's faster than I remembered!_

"Expecting some one else?" Kevin said, in a deep, satanic-like voice.

"Kevin?" I asked, as I got back up onto my knees. "Is it really you in there?"

"Doesn't matter." he said, as I heard him approaching.

Once again, I wasn't fast enough to block his attack and he kicked me in the chin, sending me forwards, crashing through what was left of the glass container. I heard Kevin begin running, I looked up to see him running through the hole in the wall.

I got up and ran to the hole in the wall, to see he had almost reached the hole where I entered from. I considered chasing after him, but he wasn't my priority. I still had to find that armored thing that I had been chasing.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are really persistent? Annoyingly persistent?" I heard a mechanical sort of voice behind me.

I turned around to see that armored thing floating in the air, just a couple feet from me.

"Well no, actually." I said. "I honestly thought I was handsome."

"You're naive. Good." the thing said.

It reached around to it's back and then pointed two submachine guns at me. Although, they looked sort of alien.

"It's going to be a pleasure burying you for what you did to me." he said. "Besides, I've gotten what I came for."

"Did to you? What did I do?" I asked.

He didn't answer. Just like from his palms, he began firing those guns at me, which shot some kind of plasma energy. I dodged most of the fire, but did get hit a few times. After standing up straight again, I shot a fireball at him.

It hit him and sent him spiraling out of control, sending him head first into a wall. He just laid on the floor for a second, before getting back up.

"Okay, that caught me off guard. But no matter." he said, as one of the compartments of his suit opened up.

What looked to be like a mini missile launcher popped up, with three missiles on it.

"See you in hell." the thing said.

"Save me a seat." I said, before he fired the rockets.

They hit me and set me backwards after the explosion. Once I recovered, I got up. I looked around to see that he was gone.

"Where'd that thing go?" I asked myself, as I ran towards the hole in the wall.

I saw him running towards the entry hole and as he got to end, he jumped out the hole and his rocket boots started up, sending him flying again. I started running back down the trail that he had left, trying to catch with him.

Once I had gotten to the hole, I noticed he was pretty far away. So, I jumped out of the hole, turning my legs back into a cyclone of fire, sending me towards my target.

However, by the time I touched down on the top of a roof, he was gone. I looked over the edge of the roof, looking for a trail, but there was nothing.

"Where'd he go?" I asked out loud. "No, seriously! Where'd he go?!"

I kept looking around in every direction for him, but didn't catch a glimpse of him. Whoever he was, whatever he was, he was gone. Just then, I heard someone let out a loud whoop of excitement.

I turned around, but just barely missed the glimpse of someone doing a front flip over my head. As I turned around, the alien watch timed out. I got a look at the person now standing in front of me.

It was a female. She was about as tall as me, while in my human form. The thing I noticed first was her outfit. She was wearing a skintight leather jumpsuit, with leather boots and gloves. She was also wearing the kind of mask that the Black Cat wore in Marvel Comics.

She also had some kind of utility belt around her waist, with a bright violet jewel in the center of the belt. She had black hair, as well as blue eyes.

"Well," she said, as she pushed a few strands of her hair behind her ear. "Who's your hero?"

A/N: Well, what did you guys think? I know a lot of you will argue that the description of Lucky Girl at the end of the chapter isn't accurate, but give it time. It will eventually be explained why Lucky Girl looks the way she does. And what did you think of the chase and eventual "fight" between Ben and the purple and black armored thing (still not revealing his name)? What about Kevin's escape from the helicarrier? Anyway, don't forget to favorite and follow the story for more chapters. Review or PM me if you want to submit your opinions, and be here next week for the next chapter of the Lucky Girl arc!


	27. Chapter 27: Lucky Girl: Part Two

Chapter 27: Lucky Girl: Part 2

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty seven! So, in this chapter, this will be Ben's first interaction with Lucky Girl. She's going to explain why she tracked him down and they'll be working together for the most of this arc and the next arc. With nothing else to be said, on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

I looked the lady up and down. I ignored her question. She had asked me who my hero was, but I didn't answer.

"And who might you be?" I asked.

"I'm Lucky Girl." she said, smiling.

"Lucky Girl? I- I don't follow." I said.

"I'm a superheroine. And I want to be your sidekick or something like that." she said.

"A partnership?" I asked. "You're joking."

"Well, truth of the matter is, I need your help." she said.

"Go to the police." I said. "I may help people, but I don't help weirdos who go out of their way to track me."

"But I need help." she said. "And you're the only one I could come to."

I sighed, putting my fingers on my forehead.

"Forget anything I said." I replied. "What do you need my help with?"

The lady called Lucky Girl smiled.

"I need help finding a missing person." she said.

"Who?" I asked.

"Someone by the name Benjamin Tennyson." she said. "His cousin Gwen sent me after him, to try to pick up his trail."

 _Of course this would happen. Gwen must have sent this person to track me down._

"What's your connection to Gwen Tennyson?" I asked.

"Why do you want to know? Might you know Ben Tennyson?" she asked.

"I'm not saying anything else until you tell me how you know Gwen Tennyson." I said.

"What? Did you honestly think that you were the only superhero in the city?" she asked.

I said nothing.

"You are not the only superhero that this city has." she said. "There's me and few others that I know of."

"Okay. How do you know Gwen? That wasn't exactly an answer." I said.

"She came to me after her cousin Ben disappeared. She begged for my help." she said.

"And? What's in it for you?" I asked.

"What's in it for me?" she asked. "I thought that it was common courtesy to help someone when they ask for it?"

"I'm not saying it's wrong to help someone when they need it. But what is in it for you?" I asked.

"What's in it for you? When you help others, what's in it for _you_?" she asked.

"Nothing, I guess." I said. "I do the things I do to make myself feel better."

"Then it's the same for me. Maybe a bit of an adrenaline rush, I guess." she said. "Will you tell me if you know Ben Tennyson now?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, I knew him. He and I used to work together." I said. "He would make things for me to use to help me fight crime in the city. But after he made my wrist gauntlets, he backed out. He never really liked me."

"Why do you think that is?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"So I've asked demands of him." I said. "Maybe he didn't like working for me. Maybe he expected to get paid. Either way, I haven't seen or talked to him for a week or so."

"Did you pay him? Like at all?" Lucky Girl asked.

I shook my head.

"What?! Why?!" Lucky Girl asked. "So it was slave labor? He worked for you and got nothing in return! Why?!"

"Okay. A, calm the hell down. B, what am I supposed to pay him with? I have no money!" I said.

"What do you do for a job?" she asked.

"This is my job. And it doesn't exactly pay much." I said.

"What about your job that you have with your secret identity?" she asked.

"What? As in real life?" I asked. "I don't have a job."

Lucky Girl rolled her eyes.

"Can we not, okay? There's more." she said. "If there's one thing that I've learned in my life, it's that there is always more."

"I'm telling the truth. Outside of this, I don't have a job." I said.

She just looked at me, not saying anything.

"No job? Seriously?" she asked.

"Seriously." I said.

"So, will you help me? Will you help me find Ben Tennyson?" she asked. "Or at least help me pick up his trail?"

I sighed.

 _I might as well. If I don't help her, this lady will probably go back to Gwen and Gwen will be even more impatient to find me. I guess I don't have a choice._

"Fine. I'll help you." I said.

"And what about that partnership?" Lucky Girl asked, her eyes lighting up.

"No. Sorry. Not gonna happen." I said. "I'm sorry that you want a partnership that you won't get. I work alone. I'll help you. But once that's over, it's done. I expect you to leave me alone."

"What about if I show you how skilled I am during all of this?" she asked. "Then will you consider it?"

"No, I told you t- Fine. I'll think about it, if I'm impressed by the things you can do." I said.

She closed her eyes, as she grinned in satisfaction.

"This doesn't mean anything though!" I said. "This doesn't guarentee anything! I said I'd think about it and I might."

The grin remained on her face.

"So? What information did Gwen give you about her cousin's disappearance?" I asked.

She opened her eyes and looked at me, her smile disappearing.

"She told me that almost a week ago, he was just gone." she said.

"Gone?" I asked, fishing for information.

"She said that she tried his room, to find it locked. She searched the whole house, to find nothing." she said. "She walked around the whole house next. She found the window to his bedroom open. He was nowhere to be found."

"Gone? Just like that?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Hmm." I said, putting my hand on my chin. "Did she give you any ideas as to where he could have went?"

"Well, she said that he just disappeared. But maybe a week prior, he had confessed that he was in love with her. She had mentioned that after she rejected him because of a crush of her's, he hadn't been so friendly." she said.

"In love with his cousin?" I asked.

"It's weird, I know, but it's what she said." Lucky Girl said.

"I know what she said." I replied.

"How?" she asked.

"Ben told me, the last time he saw me. When he hand delivered these, to me." I said, pointing at the wrist gauntlets.

"He made you those?" she asked.

I nodded.

"I've seen Ben do some pretty amazing things." I said.

"And yet, he quit working for you." Lucky Girl said.

"Yeah." I said.

"Gwen gave me a list of locations and people to che-" Lucky Girl began to speak, but I cut her off.

"Stop." I said. "Just stop."

"Stop what?" Lucky Girl asked, with a confused look on her face.

"Stop looking for him." I said.

Lucky Girl began to look angry.

"But I can't!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, you can. Now I know that that is a big, nasty pill to swallow. But swallow it, you most certainly will." I said. "I know if you go back to Gwen with this, she probably won't like it too much."

"What are you saying?" Lucky Girl asked. "Are you suggesting that I just give up?"

"Yes." I said. "It sounds like that Ben left on his own accord. And that he doesn't want to be found. He may or may not come back. I can't say for certain."

Lucky Girl said nothing for a second.

"Look, I'm going to find him. Whether you help me or not." she said.

I sighed.

 _She is persistent. Very persistent, I'll give her that._

I let out another sigh, as my placed my hand on my forehead.

"Okay." I said. "Let's have a look at the list of tips that she gave you."

Lucky Girl smiled, as she reached for her utility belt. She opened up one of the capsules and took out a folded up piece of paper. She handed it to me.

I took it from her and opened up the list. There were only a few suggestions on the list. The first one suggested that we search my clubhouse. The second one suggested that we check in on my cousin Ken, as well as my friends J.T. and Cash. And the last suggestion was to go see Grandpa Max and ask him about it.

"Where do you think we should start?" I asked.

"I don't know. I guess his clubhouse." Lucky Girl said. "Gwen told me that he spent the night there when he confessed and she refused to be his girlfriend."

I nodded.

"Okay. It's settled." I said, as I dialed up the alien watch. "Let's go."

 _Sometime Later..._

"Nothing?" Lucky Girl asked, as we finished searching the clubhouse.

"Nothing." I agreed. "He hasn't been here for a while."

 _I_ haven't been here for a while.

"What now?" Lucky Girl asked.

"Well, I guess we go talk with his Grandpa Max." I said. "I can't see what else we could do tonight."

"Lead the way." Lucky Girl said.

I nodded, as we walked outside of the clubhouse. As we did, I saw a mugging in progress across the street.

"Stay here." I said, as I dialed up the alien watch once again. "I got this."

"I can't defeat a few of those pawns?" she asked.

I turned back to look at her.

"Suit yourself." I said, as I transformed into Diamondhead. "Try not to get yourself killed."

"Please. Just watch me." Lucky Girl said, as she jumped into the action with me.

I grabbed one the thugs from behind, as he tried to take their victim's purse.

"That's not yours." I said, as I pulled them back so I could face them. "Back the hell off."

I punched him in the face with my diamond fist, probably breaking his nose, then threw him to the side of the curb. I was still living the anti hero life, just a little bit. But don't get me wrong, I was still going home. Just not tonight, depending on how things went.

I looked over at Lucky Girl, who was fighting two of them off at the same time. One of them was about to strike from behind.

"Lucky Girl, look out!" I exclaimed.

She didn't even look back at me or the impending danger. She just brought her left forearm up and it was like a hot pink shield just appeared over her forearm. Her attacker from behind hit the shield, causing it to crack, but it didn't break.

"What the hell?" I whispered.

Lucky Girl's shield disappeared, and she grabbed both of her attacker's heads, and brought them together, causing the both of them to headbutt eachother. She then kicked both of them, causing them to fall over. They didn't move again.

"What the holy hell?" I asked.

Lucky Girl grinned.

"Told you I had skills." she said.

"Apparently." I said. "What the hell was that pink stuff?"

"Mana." she said. "Just something I picked up along the way. Hit me."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Hit me. Or try to." she said.

"Um, no. I'm not hitting a girl, I d-" I was speaking, but she interrupted.

"Hit me!" she exclaimed, sounding angry.

I sighed, before hitting her. Or, I tried. Before I could impact her, she waved her hand in front of my fist, and the same pink shield appeared, blocking my attack.

She grinned, as I tried to hit her again. She blocked again.

"What the hell?" I asked.

She just laughed.

Before I could say something else, I heard a voice interrupt the silence.

"Alien Guy! What an unpleasant surprise!" I heard a familiar voice.

I turned and saw that thing, in high tech purple and black armor standing on the roof of my clubhouse. As soon as I saw him, I fired a diamond shard at him. And he actually caught it before it could hit him.

"Wow! That wasn't nice!" the thing exclaimed.

"Sorry." I said in a sarcastic tone. "What the hell are you?"

"I'm trying to figure that out myself." the thing said. "But for now, you can call me by the name that my master gave me. You can call me Sixsix."

"What kind of name is that?" I asked.

"That doesn't matter right now." he said.

"Look whatever you want with me, we can cut a deal." I said. "A deal that will benefit both of us."

"You're right. We can." he said. "You and the girl are coming with me. Few people might have to die along the way, but it'll be worth it in the end."

I shook my head.

"Yeah, that deal isn't going to work for me." I said. "See, I was going to ask you why you were on the S.E.C.T. helicarrier earlier tonight. Then, I was going to tell you to leave me alone. Only, I think in that deal, no one would have to die."

"No, that deal won't work. My deal is the only one that will work for you." he said.

I turned to look at Lucky Girl, who was shaking her head. She agreed with me. I turned back to at Sixsix again.

"My ward and I are leaving." I said. "To hell with your deal."

"Okay, friend." Sixsix said, as I turned around. "Plenty of ways to get you to where you're going."

I started walking away from Sixsix and Lucky Girl followed me.

"You called me your ward back there." she said. "Does that mean anything?"

I turned to look at her.

"Look, Lucky Girl. You're giving me a positive vibe." I said. "I'm still thinking about it. But I won't guarantee you a partnership."

She nodded.

"I understand." she said.

"Come on. Let's get away from this nut and find Ben's Grandpa Max."

 _Sometime Later..._

"No, I haven't seen him. The last time I saw him was a week ago, when he came up here to visit me." Grandpa Max said.

Lucky Girl let out a sigh.

"Another dead end." she said.

"I'm sorry." I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't apologize to me." she said. "Apologize to Gwen. She's the one who's worried sick about him."

I chuckled.

"You said worried sick. I thought that was a old saying." I said, as I continued to giggle.

"Don't test me." Lucky Girl said.

"Sorry." I said.

She said nothing else. I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her a little so I could see her face.

"You know what? Why don't you go home for the night? Where ever you call home." I said. "We'll pick this up tomorrow night."

"Does this mean we're partners?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"I'm in this investigation for the long haul. I want to see it finished." I said. "I'll do whatever I can to help you find Gwen's cousin."

After a few seconds, she nodded.

"Okay, I'll go." she said, as she walked towards the door of the R.V.

"Goodnight, Lucky Girl." I said.

"Goodnight." she said, as she left the R.V., leaving the door open.

Once I knew she was gone, I closed the door behind her and turned back to look at Grandpa Max.

"What are you playing at, Ben?" he asked.

I took off my mask.

"What?" I asked.

"You've put multiple people into the hospital!" he said. "And you abandoned your cousin, while you and her were supposed to be living together for the summer!"

"It didn't work out." I said.

"How did it not work out?" he asked.

"I fell in love with her. I just randomly started developing romantic feelings for her out of nowhere." I said. "And when she rejected me, I tried to deal with it, I really did. But with her crush on my alter ego, I had to get out of there."

"So, you're telling me that you didn't have the cojones to leave her a note when you left?" he asked.

"Okay, two things here, Grandpa. A, just leave her a note telling her that I can't stand her crush on my alter ego and that I was leaving?" I asked. And B, did you seriously just say 'cojones'?"

"Yes. I seriously just did." Grandpa Max said, chuckling. "I think you should go home. Tonight. You need to go home. Gwen needs to just see your face."

"What do you think I've been trying to do?!" I exclaimed, as I got angry. "Listen to me, old man! Did you seriously think that I was never going to go back home?! Gwen obviously can't take my disappearance and my own mother definitely couldn't cope with her own son disappearing off of the face of the Earth!"

"Calm down, your face is getting red. And I'm not that old." he said, in a stern, but caring voice. "Are you going home?"

I shook my head.

"Not tonight." I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because she expects that Lucky Girl character to find me and I'm going to continue to help her 'investigate' for as long as I can." I said. "And did you notice that she has wrist gauntlets, almost like mine? Gwen must have improved on my design and used those to pay her. Gwen expects her to finish the investigation!"

Grandpa Max nodded.

"That's a good idea. But I noticed something." he said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You said that Gwen must have improved on your design." he said. "What if Lucky Girl herself improved on your design?"

"Are you implying that Gwen is Lucky Girl?" I asked.

"No. I'm not. If she searched your house, than it would make sense if she found your designs and decided to work off of it." I said.

I shrugged.

"I do find her to be suspicious though." I said.

"Here's what I suggest. Next time you see her, when you two are done working for the night and part ways, follow her." he said. "See where she hangs her mask and costume. See who she is."

"So, stalk her?" I asked.

"No, you twat!" Grandpa Max said. "See if she is someone you can trust. If you know who she is, you may be able to trust her!"

I shrugged.

"I guess it's an idea." I said. "Thanks."

He nodded.

"If you're not going home tonight, do you need a place to crash?" he asked. "You can sleep on the upper bunk, if you want."

I nodded.

"Thanks Grandpa. I'll take it." I said.

"No problem." he said. "Now, let's get you washed up before you get to sleep? We'll get you something to eat, too."

"I'll wash up. But I already ate." I lied.

"Okay." he said. "Well, go get washed up and get some sleep, kid."

"Yes, Grandpa." I said.

A/N: So, that's the chapter for the week! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! What did you think of the first "team-up" between Ben and Lucky Girl? For all of you Bwen fans, I'm sure you're getting impatient waiting for that moment to come. But I promise, that moment is just on the horizon. It won't be long now, I promise. Also, starting next chapter, a budding romance will begin between Alien Guy (Ben) and Lucky Girl. I'm thinking about releasing another chapter later on in the week, instead of next week, I don't know. But that doesn't mean weekly chapters are going away. But anyway, I'm going to go, so have a fantastic night and, bye.


	28. Chapter 28: Lucky Girl: Part Three

Chapter 28: Lucky Girl: Part 3

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty eight! Jesus, we're really getting up there, in terms of how many chapters we're at. In this chapter, Ben is going to continue to assist Lucky Girl in her "investigation". Do stick around for the end of the chapter, as you will not want to miss it. So, with nothing else that I can say, let's get on with this chapter!

 _Ben_

"We've checked the rest of the tips that Gwen gave you and still nothing." I said, as I took a bite out of my hot dog. "I've got nothing. It's like he's just dropped off of the face of the earth."

"And you're sure that you haven't seen him since he disappeared?" Lucky Girl asked, as she took a bite out of her hot dog.

I shook my head.

"I haven't seen him since." I said.

This whole charade of pretending to help Lucky Girl find my missing alter ego (well, Gwen claimed I was missing) was getting a bit old. I honestly thought I was just stretching this out for as long as I could. And eventually, I wouldn't be able to stretch it out any farther.

Eventually I would have to go home and confront Gwen about my leaving home so suddenly.

"He'll turn up." Lucky Girl said. "He has to."

We had spent all afternoon searching, well in my case, I was pretending to search. And of course, we still had found nothing. We eventually stopped looking and got two hot dogs for lunch from a hot dog cart in the city. I finished eating my hot dog, and slipped my mask back down below my nose, so it was covering my whole face again.

"Look, I hate to cut this short, but I have somewhere I have to be." I said.

"And where is that?" Lucky Girl asked, as she stood back up.

Before I could reply, we were interrupted.

"Yo, Alien Guy!" I heard a voice exclaim.

I looked up, to see Albedo jumping down from a rooftop that was up just a bit higher than us. Before he could say something else to me, he noticed Lucky Girl.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, directing his attention to her. "Who's the hot chick?"

Lucky Girl crossed her arms over her chest, obviously unimpressed with him hitting on her. Even I wasn't exactly okay with it.

"The 'hot chick' is his partner in training." she said, in a partly aggressive tone.

"Stop." I said, looking at her. "Don't get ahead of yourself."

"Seriously, who is she?" Albedo asked.

"I'm helping her search for a missing person." I said.

"A missing person?" Albedo asked. "Who?"

"Benjamin Tennyson." Lucky Girl said. "Kid ran away from home. Tragic."

"Yeah." I said. "Think he couldn't take the fact that his cousin Gwen didn't accept his feelings and decided to get out."

"Hmm. Yeah, I think that makes sense." he said. "The guy fell for his own cousin. Sick! But I get it. I've seen Gwen in person and I must say that she is _really_ pretty."

I shot a glare at Albedo, even though he couldn't see it with my mask on. Albedo winked at me, as if he were saying: _Don't worry, I'm not going to mess with your life anymore!_

I noticed something on Lucky Girl's face from out of the corner of my eye. I looked at her, to see that she was blushing slightly.

"Hey! What's with you?" I asked.

Lucky Girl looked at me, as her blush disappeared.

"Nothing." she said.

"Look, are we done here?" I asked. "I really have to be somewhere!"

"Where?" Albedo and Lucky Girl asked in unison.

"Look, my other life is none of your business! Especially for you, Lucky Girl!" I said. "We don't know each other! I'm only doing this to help you! To help Gwen! Add something to my resume!

"Jesus Christ, will you calm down?" she asked.

"I agree. Put a sock in it." Albedo said.

"Look. I'm going." I said, as I turned around. "I'll be back out sometime tonight, Lucky Girl. Find me then."

I was expecting Albedo to hang around back to chat with Lucky Girl, but he didn't. As I was jogging away from them, I heard Albedo speak.

"Uh, I gotta go to. See ya!" he exclaimed.

I sighed, a few seconds before Albedo caught up to me.

"So you finally going home, Ben?" he asked, as we jogged side by side each other.

"What the fuck!" I hissed at him. "Don't reveal my identity! Lucky Girl is still behind us!"

"Oh, calm down! She's far enough behind us for me to talk about it!" Albedo said.

"Yes, I am going home." I said, still annoyed that he called me by my real name.

"Finally realize that you're too much of a wimp to be an anti hero?" Albedo asked.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed. "I am not a wimp!"

"Keep telling yourself that." Albedo said. "What made you decide to go back?"

"I met a man who convinced me that I didn't have the guts to be a anti hero." I said. "he convinced me that I won't ever be able to do what's necessary."

"Who?" he asked.

"The man you tipped me off about." I said. "Leon Jones."

"You actually found him?!" Albedo asked. "Where is he now? Is he in jail?"

"No. He isn't. I think he's dead." I said.

"Why would you say that?" Albedo asked.

"He suffered third degree burns all over his body." I said. "There's no way he could survive that."

"What happened?" he asked.

"The final shoot out was at a gas station." I said. "I thought he was smart enough not to fire guns in a area with flammable gas."

"So, you think he's dead?" Albedo asked.

"Yes. I do." I replied.

"What if he's not dead?" Albedo asked.

"I don't know. I'm just set on the fact that he's dead." I said.

"So, where are we heading?" Albedo asked.

"I'm heading to the tenement building that I've held up in." I said. "I'm going to clear out my stuff. And I need your help with something."

"Okay. What is it?" he asked.

"Not here." I said. "When we get there."

"Okay." Albedo said.

We were quiet the rest of the way.

 _Later_

"Have to get home." I said, as I took off my mask for the first time in a day.

I had already eaten all of the food I had stashed here, so I didn't really have a whole lot to pack up.

I took off my gloves and leather jacket, along with my boots and wrist gauntlets. I pulled my backpack over and took out a spare T-shirt and sneakers. I slipped on my sneakers, after that taking off the black Tee that I had on.

I slipped the spare T-shirt on and after that, put all of the parts to my costume into the backpack. I zipped it up and handed it to Albedo.

"I need you to take this backpack back to my house." I said. "If my window is still open, toss it into my room. If it isn't stash it in the bushes somewhere around the house. And make sure that you aren't seen. Can you do that?"

Albedo nodded.

"Good. Now go." I said, as I stood up.

He nodded.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I'll walk home." I said. "I need to confront Gwen myself."

"Okay. Good luck!" he said, as he walked towards the stairwell of the abandoned building.

I let out a nervous sigh. Odds were that Gwen would be lecturing me for a long time.

 _Sometime Later_

I stood on the porch, just a foot away from my front door.

"Well, it's now or never." I said, as I knocked on the door.

Gwen answered the door maybe half a minute later, using a towel to dry her hair, so she must have just been in the shower a short while ago.

Gwen made an audible gasp when she saw me, dropping her towel.

"Where have you been?!" she exclaimed in a worried and angry tone, as she hugged me as hard as she possibly could.

I couldn't say anything, she was hugging me so hard. So, I just hugged her back for the time being. She eventually pulled away from me, giving me an angry look.

"No note, door locked, window open!" she exclaimed angrily. "Where were you?! I thought you had been kidnapped!"

I sighed out of embarrassment.

"I think you know by now. I ran away." I said.

Gwen's eyes widened with anger.

"Ran away?!" she yelled, her voice full of anger. "Ran away to where?! And why?!"

I rolled my eyes out of my annoyance for her anger.

"Okay, two things. A, can you stop acting so angry? Jesus you sound like my mother." I said. "And my mother hasn't yelled at me like this in a long time. B, can we take this inside? I don't want to cause a scene in the neighborhood."

Gwen looked at me with this angry look at actually _scared_ me. She grabbed me by the center of my shirt and pulled me inside. After she had closed the door, she smacked me in the cheek so hard, that it caused me to stumble over backwards.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, as I felt the spot she had smacked.

It burned when I touched it, the spot on my face where she smacked me.

"What was that for?!" I shouted at her.

"I was going to smack you, but not that hard." she said. "I was going to smack you because you just ran off without an explanation on where you were going!"

"I left on my own accord!" I said. "So next time, don't send a detective lady to find me!"

She looked surprised after I said that.

"How'd you know about that?" she asked.

"Alien Guy found me. The last guy I wanted to see came looking for me and he found me!" I said. "He tracked me down and told me that you had called on some detective lady, and then said detective lady came to look for him."

Gwen put her hand on her chin.

"I guess Lucky Girl didn't find you. She needed help." she said.

"How did you know that she didn't find me?" I asked.

"I don't know. I'm only assuming." she said.

"You do know what they say about assuming right?" I asked. "Never assume. It makes an ass out of you and-"

"Shut up, Benjamin." Gwen said, interrupting me. "After the amount of worry you caused me, you don't deserve to joke around."

My face fell. In all honesty, she was right.

"Where did you go?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter." I said. "What matters is that I came home."

"Where. Did. You. Go?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"I didn't go far! I stayed in the city!" I said. "I was pretty sure if you can't take my disappearance, which you obviously can't, than my own mother wouldn't be able to take it either. I was testing if I really wanted to abandon the life I had. And I decided against. I came home!"

Gwen let out a sigh of anger and placed her fingers on her temples.

"Ben, just go to your room." she hissed in a angry tone.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"What the hell do I have to say? You're grounded?" she asked. "Go to your room! I don't even want to look at you right now."

"Okay, now you're really acting like my mother." I said.

"Just go. Now." Gwen said. "You can come out when it's dinner time."

I rolled my eyes.

"Anything else, your highness?" I asked, mockingly.

She looked up at me with an annoyed look.

"Yes. No T.V. or video games." she said, as she turned around.

"You're really milking this act, huh?" I asked.

"Go!" she yelled, as she turned back around, looking very angry.

I hung my head, as I turned around, walking to my room. I stopped for a second.

"Just so you know," I said, as I turned my head back a little. "it's good to see you, too."

I continued walking to my room and when I got there, wasn't surprised to find the door unlocked. I walked in and closed the door behind me. I also found that my window was now closed. So Albedo must have hidden my bag in one of the bushes outside. That was good.

 _Later That Night_

Gwen had made spaghetti for dinner, with little bits of beef in the sauce. I think she had expected a discussion over dinner. But in all honesty, after what had gone done this afternoon, why would either of us want to talk to the other person?

"I'm sorry I yelled, okay?" Gwen spoke, breaking the silence. "I'm sorry I hit you, too."

"No, you're not." I said. "I felt that smack, Gwen. That smack had no amount of remorse in it."

"Ben, please-" Gwen began to speak.

"Stop." I said. "You know, if I knew that I wasn't going to get a warm welcome back, I might've stayed out there."

"Ben, please let me speak!" Gwen exclaimed. "You have no idea what feelings rushed through my head, the things I thought when you just vanished without a trace. I was scared, angry and worried all at the same time. I don't think even you can understand that."

"You're right." I said, as I finished eating my dinner.

"What do you mean, I'm right?" Gwen asked.

"You're right." I said. "I don't know how it feels."

"Where are you going?" Gwen asked, getting up.

"Going to bed." I said, putting my plate in the sink. "You're obviously not being nice to me."

"Ben, wa-" Gwen began to speak.

"Good night." I said, walking out of the kitchen.

I walked back to my room and shut the door behind me for the night. I had to get back out and meet with Lucky Girl. I went to my window and opened it up as quietly as I could. I quietly jumped outside and began to look for the bag that Albedo left me.

I looked around and quickly found my bag in the bushes right underneath my window. I zipped it open and took out the parts of my costume. In the very dim light, I began to change back into my costume.

Two minutes later and I had my costume on, mask, gloves, gauntlets and all. Once I had my leather jacket back on, I was on my way, back to the rooftop that I had told Lucky Girl we'd meet on tonight.

 _Downtown Bellwood, Close To 9:00_

I stood on the rooftop, looking out over the city, patiently waiting for Lucky Girl to arrive. I began to tap my foot, getting impatient. I heard a light thud from behind me. I sighed in disappointment.

"You're late." I said. "By almost fifteen minutes."

"Is that a problem?" I heard Lucky Girl say from behind me.

"Not really." I said. "I just don't want to be wasting my time."

Lucky Girl stepped in front of me, lightly brushing her black hair out of her face.

"Why? Now that our work together is done?" she asked.

"I take it you heard that Ben returned home?" I asked.

"How could I not?" she asked. "You're the one who found him. Gwen told me."

I nodded.

"Where did you find him?" she asked.

"Hiding out. When Albedo popped in on us today, he tipped me off on a place I could find him."

"Albedo?" she asked.

"An associate of mine who can be really annoying." I said, as I let out a sigh of annoyance. "Caucasian fella with steel grey hair and glowing red eyes. I bet he made quite the first impression."

"Yeah, he was." Lucky Girl said. "Odd, too. Was he hitting on me?"

"Yeah, he has a thing for that." I said.

Lucky Girl nodded.

"I know. Gwen told me she had an encounter with him." she said. "Speaking of Gwen, did you hear how she treated Ben when he got back?"

I shook my head.

"Ben and I don't stand on good terms." I said. "He actually screamed at me when I came to find him. He tried to fight me as well. Kid can't fight, sure can scream though."

"What did you do?" Lucky Girl asked.

"I countered all of his attacks. Forced him to go home." I said.

"Gwen thanks you." I said. " _I_ thank you."

"What do you have to thank me for?" I asked.

Lucky Girl moved closer, until we were almost standing nose to nose. I was about to ask her what she was doing, when she put her hands on my mask.

 _What is she doing?_

That's when it dawned on me. I couldn't see it before because of the dark, but now it dawned on me that Lucky Girl had lipstick on. She began searching around my face, until she found the bottom of my mask. She started to move my mask upwards, just until my nose and mouth were visible.

I could have sworn she was taking off my mask completely. But I was so dim, that I didn't see what she was really doing.

"Wait, you can't-" I began to protest, as she planted her lips onto mine.

She gently gripped my chin with one hand as she deepened the kiss. I couldn't return the kiss at first. I was just too surprised. Eventually, I closed my eyes and put my hand on her shoulder, doing my best to return her kiss. But yes, the kiss still surprised me.

 _Here we are, have been working together, not even for a full two days now. And yet, here she is, kissing me. Who was this lady? What have I gotten myself into?_

A/N: Well, and that is the chapter today! I just wanted to get this chapter out. And that means that I'll work on chapter seven and we'll see if I decide to make it a weekly release or not, like I've been doing. Technically, Ben's civilian life is back. He decided against abandoning his life, obviously. So, yeah. A start to the romance between Ben and Lucky girl, which is weird because Ben and Gwen have such a shaky relationship (and everyone should know that Gwen is Lucky Girl). The tough thing between them right now is trust. It's gonna take a while before Gwen can trust Ben again and vice versa.

Well, we're on the road to the Insidious Seven story arc, as I'm sure the readers can tell. I'm not sure if I want to draw out this arc for another two chapters after this and then start the Insidious Seven arc with Chapter 30. Or, next chapter will be the final chapter of the Lucky Girl arc. I'm not sure. If you want to give me an opinion about that, or anything really, it would be appreciated. But I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic Sunday and bye!


	29. Chapter 29: Lucky Girl: Part Four

Chapter 29: Lucky Girl: Part 4

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and chapter twenty nine! So, this may or may not be the final part of the Lucky Girl arc, I haven't really decided yet. In this chapter, Lucky Girl is going to push the budding romance between her and Ben a little too far. You'll see how she does that. On top of that, there will be some more action in this chapter, seeing as the last chapter was filled with drama. I will say that this chapter is going to be a little more mature than the last chapters. Well, the story is rated M for a reason. So, without anything else to be said, here is the chapter!

 _Ben_

Lucky Girl continued to kiss me. She continued to kiss me for at least an additional ten more seconds. She eventually pulled away to catch her breath. She just looked at me, gasping for air, as a small smile crossed her face.

"Wow." she said, as her gasps lessened. "That was nice."

I felt my lips as she said this. I don't know what it was, but there was something about this lady's lips. It felt like I had kissed those lips before! I just couldn't put my finger on why I felt that way. I let my hand fall back down to my side.

"Why?" I asked.

She stepped closer to me.

"Do you need to know why?" she asked, as she looked a little offended. "Why can't you enjoy a good kiss?"

Before I could even answer, she kissed me _again!_ And she didn't just kiss me. She practically jumped on me! She walked really fast closer to me and wrapped her arms around me, the momentum sending us down to the floor of the roof.

Once we were down there, she didn't even help me get back up. She just laid on top of me as she continued to kiss me. It took me even longer to return the kiss this time, because it surprised me so much.

Thing was, I wanted to respond to the kiss. So, I did. I eventually kissed her back and began to run my hands through her hair. After maybe ten or fifteen more seconds she pulled away and sat up, looking at me the whole way up. She didn't get all the way off of me, just sat on my chest for a while, that eventually made it a tad difficult to breath.

She eventually got off of me and helped me up. Once I was up, I reached for my mask to pull it back down again.

 _I'm going to have to wipe my lips off before bed tonight. If Gwen sees the lipstick on my lips tomorrow, she'll know that I snuck out._

"Don't do that." Lucky Girl said, as she firmly gripped my wrist, preventing me from pulling my mask down.

I looked at her, confused.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because, I'm not done yet." she said, in a timid tone.

"What do you mean?" I asked, even more confused.

Instead of answering, Lucky Girl just let out what can only be described as a nervous whimper. Then, she reached for the zipper to her leather costume and began to slowly pull it downwards.

Underneath my mask, my eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Before I could see anything, I turned around and crossed my arms over my chest.

"No." I said, in a stern tone.

"What?" she asked, as I continued to hear her pulling on her zipper.

I turned my head, so I could just see her out of the corner of my eye.

"Did you honestly think that I would be okay with having a one night stand on a rooftop?" I asked. "That's what the idea was, wasn't it?"

She didn't speak.

"Lucky Girl, speak when your spoken to." I said in a stern voice.

"Yes, that was the idea." she said.

"Why?" I asked.

I felt her hand on my shoulder a few seconds later.

"Because I find myself to be very attracted to you." she said. "Alien Guy, I think that I might be in love with you!"

I turned around and looked at her, confused.

 _Great. First Gwen is in love with Alien Guy, now Lucky Girl is in love with me! Jesus, how many women have a lady boner for me?! Wait, did I just say "lady boner"? Jesus, I am pathetic! No wonder Gwen does love me the way I love her! Alien Guy is awesome, so no wonder she'd rather be with him! If I wasn't Alien Guy, I'd just be Benjamin Tennyson. A wallflower. Madison High School's professional wallflower, to be exact. That's who I am under this mask._

"No." I said.

"No, what?" Lucky Girl asked.

I turned around to face her.

"I'm saying no to your idea about doing what you want to do on this rooftop." I said.

"Alien Guy, I didn't want it to be a one night stand." she said, cringing when she said it. "I want to build not only a partnership with you, but a romantic relationship as well. Please."

"No. I'm sorry. I was honestly thinking about a partnership, but you're far from that." I said.

"Are you saying that I'll never be your partner, because of this?" she asked.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is that you're a long way from being my partner. If we're going to be partners, we need to trust one another." I said. "And you haven't even earned my trust."

"Can you at least tell me why we can't be in a romantic relationship?" she asked.

"We can't do that, because it's too dangerous. If I knew who you were and if you knew who I was, we'd want to risk our lives for each other. And if we did that, one of us might get hurt or even die because of what we do." I said. "And as professional heroes, we can't put our emotions into the mix. Showing love for the other could endanger us in a bad situation. We just have to remain partners, when that time comes. No more, no less."

"I-I understand." she stammered, a bright red blush coming onto her cheeks.

"And besides, I can't put anyone else's lives at risk." I said. "There's already another person in this world that I've put at risk more times than I can count."

Before Lucky Girl could respond, our serious conversation was interrupted.

"Well, well, well." I heard a familiar voice. "Do my eyes deceive me? Am I actually walking in on a superhero couple's attempt to get intimate? Because it sure as hell looks like it!"

I looked to my right, to see Sixsix levitating just a few feet from us. As I turned to face him, I barely noticed Lucky Girl covering herself with her arm. How modest of her.

"Oh, you have better be joking!" I exclaimed.

"Nope. Not joking friend. Just here to remind you about my deal." Sixsix said.

"Lucky Girl, zip up your costume!" I whispered to her.

"What?" she asked.

"Zip! Costume! Los Rapido!" I said.

"Um, I don't speak Spanish." she said.

I turned to face her, but didn't once I looked at her.

"What?" she asked in a quizzical tone.

"Jesus!" I exclaimed. "I didn't realize how far down you'd unzipped your costume!"

Lucky Girl blushed furiously, as she covered herself with both arms.

"Oh, so _now_ you want to see?!" she exclaimed, in a very angry tone.

"No!" I exclaimed. "What I want, is for you to zip up your damn costume!"

"Oh, right!" Lucky Girl exclaimed, before turned around and zipping it back up, as if she had forgotten her anger.

"Jesus, women are all the same!" I hissed under my breath.

"Hey, I take offense to that!" Lucky Girl exclaimed. "You hear me?"

"Yeah, your voice carries." I said, as I let out a sigh of embarrassment. "You can file a complaint."

I heard Sixsix chuckling behind me. I turned to look at him, as I pulled my mask back down all the way, to ask him a question. But he beat me to it, he began speaking first.

"You know, I would tell you that after this, you two should get a room and settle all of your fighting there," he said, still chuckling. "but there isn't going to be an 'after this'."

I was blushing from the embarrassment underneath my mask so bad, that I was glad Lucky Girl couldn't see it.

"Shut the hell up!" I exclaimed.

Sixsix was silent now and that made me afraid. But he eventually spoke.

"Excuse the shit out of my God damn French," Sixsix said. "but did you just fucking threaten me?"

I looked back at Lucky Girl, who shook her head at me, as if to tell me not to antagonize him any more than I already had.

I turned back to look at him.

"Yes, I did threaten you." I said. "But now I realized I messed up. Look, I told you that my ward and I aren't interested in your deal. We're not doing it."

"And I told you that my deal is the only deal that works." Sixsix said. "I know that is a tough thing to accept, but you have to. My boss told me to tell you, that you get one more chance to come quietly."

"Who's your boss?" I asked.

"You'll find out soon enough. Now come with me." Sixsix said, doing the "come here" gesture with his finger.

I looked back at Lucky Girl. She didn't do or say anything.

I turned back to look at Sixsix.

"No. Lucky Girl and I are leaving. _Again_." I said, as I turned around.

"No. You're not." Sixsix said, in a threatening voice.

I turned around, to see Sixsix taking off those dual wield plasma rifles or pistols, whatever they were, off of his back.

"No, you're not leaving. See, you're coming with me _now_. And if you don't, I'll kill your woman." he said, his voice still as threatening. "That isn't what my boss wants, but he'll still get what he wants. He'll just have to get over it."

He pointed his weapons at us.

"Now, let's go. Let's not draw this out. Come on." he said.

I said nothing and did nothing. I didn't move, I just stood there.

"Are you seriously going to make me count?" he asked.

I still did nothing.

"Okay, Alien Guy. I'm counting!" he exclaimed.

I turned around to look at Lucky Girl, who looked scared.

"Run!" I hissed at her.

"One!"

"No! Not without you!" she exclaimed.

"What did I tell you about your emotions?" I exclaimed.

"Two!"

I looked at Sixsix, pointing his weapons at us and then looked back at Lucky Girl. I realized she wasn't going anywhere. I let out a growl of frustration and ran to her. Once I got to her, I put my arm around her shoulder and my other arm underneath her legs, picking her up, bridal style.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she exclaimed, as I ran with her in my arms.

"Saving our asses!" I exclaimed, as I lept from the rooftop we were on.

I fired the grapple on my wrist gauntlet to the ground of the rooftop below us, and zipped us down there faster.

"Three!"

"You can put me down now! I get the idea!" Lucky Girl exclaimed.

"No way! I can't slow down! I have to keep my speed!" I said, as I ignored her request.

"You've made a big mistake Alien Guy!" Sixsix exclaimed from behind us, as I heard his plasma fire hit the ground just behind us. "My boss will peel the flesh from your bones!"

"Holy shit! Holy shit!" I exclaimed.

After another minute of jumping, Lucky Girl spoke.

"We're running out of roof!" she exclaimed.

"I can see that!" I exclaimed, as I continued running.

I picked up my speed for the jump I was about to make.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

"Don't worry! I know what I'm doing!" I exclaimed, as I stepped up onto the edge of the roof.

"No, don't! This isn-" Lucky Girl trying to convince me not to go through with my plan, but it was too late.

I used my legs to push myself, us rather, off of the roof, into a jump. The only thing I didn't expect was there to be a giant skylight below us. I tried to fire my grapple hook to the wall that was on the other side of the roof.

The grapple hook only slowed us down a little bit, though. Once we began to slow, we fell. Surprisingly, our impact with the glass skylight didn't break it. But it did cause multiple cracks in it, however.

"Don't. Move. A. Muscle." I whispered.

"Okay." she whispered back.

I heard the glass began to crack more.

"Okay, listen. The glass is going to break. And when it does, we'll both use our wrist gauntlets to grapple somewhere." I said. "Once we get to the ground, we'll leave together and see if we can't loose Sixsix. Okay?"

"Sounds like a plan." she said.

And then the glass broke. Lucky Girl was the first to fall and was the one who grappled something first. I began to fall, but out of panic, I fired my grapple through what was left of the glass skylight.

Somehow, the hook caught onto something, leaving me dangling in midair.

 _Okay, now all I have to do is press the other trigger on the gauntlet, which will slowly lower me to the ground._ _Don't even ask me how I knew to think ahead about situations like this!_

I slowly lowered myself to the ground. But halfway through the process, mistakes were made. The grapple hook detached itself from whatever it was caught on to, sending me several feet to the ground.

"Agh!" I let out a loud grunt of pain, as I met face first with the floor below.

"Alien Guy!" Lucky Girl yelled with concern.

I slowly pushed myself off of the ground and pulled my mask up to my nose. I spit out the blood that had welled up into my mouth, as well as wiped the blood from my nose away with my jacket sleeve.

I got back up into a standing position and spit more blood out of my mouth.

"Come on!" Lucky Girl exclaimed, running over to me and grabbing my arm. "We have to go!"

I nodded.

"Okay." I said, as I spit out more of my blood. "Jesus, I am really bleeding!"

Before I could do anything about it, we were interrupted. There were explosions that were hitting the bookshelves in the place, as well as the balcony. It was now dawning on me that we were in the downtown public library.

The explosions caused the bookshelves to catch fire. I looked up at the shattered skylight, to see Sixsix standing at the edge of the hole, his guns now on his back again.

"You should go. The firefighters and the police will probably be here soon." Sixsix said. "Don't worry. You'll get to where you're going."

I reached for the alien watch, but Lucky Girl stopped me.

"No, don't. You can't fight him." she said.

"No, I'm not going to fight him." I said, as I spit out more blood. "There has to be an alien in here that can put out the fire."

"You can't. Not in your weakened state. We need to get out of here like he said." Lucky Girl said, tugging on my arm.

She was right. I lifted up my arm and stuck my middle finger up, so Sixsix could see it.

"So long, you prick!" I exclaimed.

Sixsix said nothing, so I looked in his direction. He was gone. I let out a sigh, as I lowered my arm back to my side.

"Come on, let's go!" she exclaimed, as she ran to the front doors of the library.

"Yeah, okay." I said, following a few seconds later, wondering how fast Sixsix could have gotten away.

After escaping the library, we met in alley not too far away. We didn't stay there for long. After promising each other we'd never speak about what happened before Sixsix found us, we parted ways for the night.

I took the long way home, just thinking to myself.

 _God, what does Sixsix and his boss want with me? Jesus, and who is Lucky Girl? This city is getting crazier and crazier with each passing day._

 _Gwen_

 _Close To 10:30_

I walked into the bathroom, for some reason still in my Lucky Girl costume. I looked into the mirror, and a beautiful young lady with black hair and blue eyes stared back at me.

I frowned at the reflection and took off my utility belt. In just a few seconds, the black hair and blue eyes changed back to my natural fiery red color and my natural green color, respectively.

I shut off the light in the bathroom and returned to my room. Once back in there, I was too tired to change out of the costume and into pajamas, so I just put on my aqua blue robe on over it. I put my slippers on as well, as I reflected back onto the events of the night.

 _Jesus, looking back on it now, I can't believe that I actually tried to seduce him._

I shuddered as I thought about it. I held up my utility belt and stared at the bright violet gem in the middle of it.

 _Maybe this gem did more than change my voice and appearance. Is it possible that it changes my personality, as well?_

I opened the small container in which I kept my costume when I wasn't wearing it and placed the belt in there. I was considering actually changing into pajamas, when I could have sworn I heard grunts, followed by coughing.

I opened by bedroom door and listened for a few seconds.

 _There it was again!_

I walked out into the hallway, still wearing my robe and walked in the direction of the noises. I followed the noises into the kitchen, where I saw Ben, wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt, bent over the sink coughing and spitting into the sink.

After a few more seconds of doing that, he reached for a cup that was near him. He turned on the sink faucet and filled up the cup with the water. He drank down the water, or at least that's what it looked like at first.

Then he started gargling the water for at least ten seconds, then spit it back out into the sink. I finally broke the silence by speaking his name.

"Ben?" I asked.

He turned around to look at me, and I covered my mouth from gasping in shock. There were small streams of blood coming from his nostrils and his mouth was bloody as well.

"What?" Ben asked, with a bit of an offended tone.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"I couldn't sleep, so I was going downstairs to watch T.V. for a while," he said. "and my dumb ass didn't see where I was going in the dark. I missed the first step and fell down the stairs."

"Well are you okay? Can I get you anything?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"No, I think it's done bleeding now." he said. "You need to go to bed."

"So do you!" I said, as he walked back to the hallway that led to the basement stairs.

"I'm sleeping downstairs tonight." he said, as he slowly walked down the stairs. "I'll be back up to get my pillow and a blanket. Go to bed!"

I eyed the sink curiously. I noticed there were still a few small puddles of water in the sink, laced with his blood. I let out a sigh of disapproval, seeing that Ben hadn't cleaned up after himself.

I turned on the sink faucet and washed the small puddles down the drain. Once it was gone, I turned off the faucet and walked towards my room, not giving the fact that Alien Guy had also been bleeding in that spot a second thought.

Epilogue

 _?_

 _Elsewhere_

"Come on then, keep digging!" I exclaimed, in my cold, menacing voice.

"Why am I doing this?" Animo asked, as he dug through the dirt with his talons. "Why can't Vilgax or Sixsix do this?"

"Vilgax is out busting our last recruit out of prison. Sixsix is out trying to scare Alien Guy and his newest companion, Lucky Girl." I said. "You and I here, right now. And you are digging up our last recruit."

"Who is this guy again?" Animo asked.

Before I could answer, his question, I heard a sound similar to the roar of a jet engine. I turned, to see Sixsix flying through the hole in the crypt's ceiling. I turned to meet him, as he came to a stop in front of me.

"Well? Let's have it. Progress report?" I asked.

"He's running scared. I got to witness him break his nose, at least it looked like it." he said. "It was quite the trip to get here. How far underneath City Hall are we? A few hundred feet?"

"Three hundred fifty feet to be exact." I said, as I turned back to look at Animo digging through the dirt, still. "It's good that you have him running scared. He'll be pissing his pants when I reveal myself."

I began to see the gray color of the stone casket beneath the dirt.

"Animo, get the cover of the casket off." I said. "You asked who this guy was. Famous evil sorcerer. Dead for several hundred years."

Animo tore the casket cover from it's place, and threw it, causing it to break into several pieces against a wall. Inside of the casket was a skeleton, any flesh and muscle were long gone.

"Animo! Get out your machine that can regenerate long dead tissue!" I exclaimed.

"There's no need, sire. Look!" Animo said, pointing at the open casket.

I looked at the casket, to see that the skeleton in said casket was slowly regenerating all of it's lost tissue. It began slowly, but eventually got faster and faster. Eventually, the once dead sorcerer's flesh had completely regrown. And then, dark maroon robes formed out of nowhere over his body.

And then he opened his eyes, and I saw they were dark red. It wasn't the eyes of a human. They were the eyes of a demon.

"Who dares disturb my slumber?" he asked, in a cold, emotionless voice.

"My name doesn't matter, great one." I said, as I slowly moved closer to the sorcerer. "What matters is that you have the opportunity to serve in a noble cause. Um, Hex, isn't it?"

"Yes. Greatest sorcerer who ever lived." he said, as he rose from his casket. "Tell me about this opportunity."

"I want revenge on a person who should never have messed with me." I said. "And with your help, as well as me and five others, we can accomplish it. And once it's all said and done, we can all do whatever with this city!"

Hex raised his arm up and the staff that was with him in his grave flew into his hand.

"This city must be turned into an old memory. I will help you." he said. "Where do we start?"

I turned around, as I rubbed my hands together.

"The preparation for the attack starts at dawn!" I announced. "The day has begun."

A/N: And so, that is the chapter for today! So, I did decide to release this chapter today. I don't know when the weekly releases will be back. There is going to be one last part for the Lucky Girl arc, which will be next chapter. Speaking of Lucky Girl, what did everything think about what she tried on the rooftop? Was it too much? I wanted Ben to have another reason to tell Lucky Girl that they shouldn't be romantically involved, besides her kissing him multiple times. Ben will finally figure out who Lucky Girl is next chapter, so I hope that is something to look forward to. What did you think of how Sixsix caught them and then chased them?

The relationship between Ben and Gwen will be a tad awkward, but not for long. The Insidious Seven story arc will also began in two chapters, and it will grow in intensity as the arc progresses. And as well as Lucky Girl, Albedo will have a bigger role in the coming arc. So, I can't really think of anything else that I should say. Um, thank you to all of those who have favorited and followed the story in the past weeks. Please keep doing that if you enjoy the story. So, I'm going to go, so have great day and bye.


	30. Chapter 30: Lucky Girl: Part Five

Chapter 30: Lucky Girl: Part 5

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty! So, this is the final chapter of the Lucky Girl arc. At the end of this, someone will figure out someone's secret identity. You'll just have to read to find out! And technically this chapter is the unofficial first part of the Insidious Seven arc. What I mean by that, is that Ben will begin his first conflict with the super villain team. And I wanted the Lucky Girl arc to last one more part. So, I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter! Let's begin!

 _Ben_

"Whatzit?!" I exclaimed, as I sprang upwards on the couch.

I held my head, once I had sat up. I had a pounding headache and I had just woken up from a bad dream. I had dreamed about some crazy shit going down in some kind of crypt somewhere. Sixsix was there, as well as Savage Animo, somekind of sorcerer dude and a mysterious guy in the shadows.

I looked up at the small basement window near the ceiling, to see a faint glow. The sun was just barely starting to come up.

"Well, would you look at that! Dawn's breaking! It's a brand new day, Ben!" I heard a voice break the silence. "Welcome to your last day on Earth!"

I shuddered at the voice. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't figure out where I had heard it before. I got up from my makeshift bed and headed upstairs. I walked into the kitchen to make myself a bowl of cereal. We kept our boxes of cereal in the pantry.

I opened the pantry and pulled out my favorite type of cereal: Lucky Charms. Lucky Charms had been my favorite cereal for a number of years, even before Gwen and I had that fight a number of years ago. I got out a bowl and spoon next.

I started pouring cereal into the bowl, when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Oh, good morning!" I said. "Looks like it's gonna be a beautiful day."

Gwen didn't respond. I turned around to look at her, as I went to the fridge. She had a glum look/frown on her face.

"Nng." she let out a small grunt of anger, as she turned and went into the living room.

"Okay. Or not." I said, as I went to pour my milk in my cereal.

With my bowl in my cereal, I picked up my bowl and followed her into the living room. Gwen had sat down on the couch, so I sat on the floor, facing her.

"So, let's try that again." I said. "Good morning."

"Leave me alone, Ben." she said.

"Gwen, we need to stop this. We need to stop bickering like an old married couple." I said, as I ate my cereal. "I want to let you in on a little secret, Gwen. This doesn't look like my house anymore, okay? It looks like a marriage counselor's God damn office! Every time I walk into this living room, I expect to see a marriage counselor sitting on the couch!"

"Are you finished?" she exclaimed. "I don't want to spend an hour today fighting with you, let alone be with you today!"

Instead of getting upset, I was curious.

"Whoa! What's eating you?" I asked in a worried tone.

"I - I..." she stopped speaking, before she tried again. "I just had a rough night is all."

 _You're not the only one._

"It's about Alien Guy, isn't it?" I asked.

Gwen looked up at me, giving me a hateful look.

"No." she said.

I thought for a second.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked.

She gave me the same hateful look.

"No." she said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

She just gave me the same look.

"Okay." I said, getting up as I had lost my appetite.

I went into the kitchen and dumped what was left of my cereal down the garbage disposal. I rinsed out my bowl and then I rinsed any bits I'd missed down the drain. I next turned on the garbage disposal for a few seconds.

I walked back into the living room and stopped, standing in front of Gwen. I put my hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me, and I noticed a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I'm here all day today, okay?" I asked. "So if you need me for anything, you know where to find me. I'll be here for you."

I took my hand off of her shoulder and began to walk away.

"No. You won't." Gwen said from behind me.

I turned around to see that Gwen was standing up, giving me that same hateful look.

"I don't know if you've noticed Ben, but you're _never_ around. You're _never_ there for me!" she exclaimed. "Where's Ben, I want to see him! Where's Ben, I'm sad and I want someone to talk to! Where's Ben? I don't fucking know! He's _never_ here!"

Gwen put her hands over her eyes, as she began to sob. I stepped up to her and pulled her into a hug, allowing her to rest her head on my chest.

"Gwen, I know that now it looks like I'm never around." I said. "But I promise that I'm going to work on that."

She stopped sobbing after a few minutes.

"Never make a girl a promise, if you know that you can't keep it." she said, her head still resting on my chest.

"Gwendolyn Tennyson, you don't mean that!" I said.

Gwen pulled away from the hug and turned around, crossing her arms.

"You know I mean it." she said, not looking back to face me.

I turned around and walked back to the basement.

"And stop calling me Gwendolyn." she said, causing me to stop in my tracks. "It makes me sound like a fucking kid."

I didn't say anything, I just walked back down the stairs. My feelings weren't even hurt. I had grown used to her attitude.

 _Several Hours Later_

I was sitting in the basement, watching T.V., when something on the news caught my attention. Something about an update on a gang war in progress in the city. I was up on my feet in seconds.

"Well, there's never a day off for me in this city." I said.

I turned off the T.V. and ran up the stairs to the living room.

"Gwen!" I called her name.

I didn't get an answer, so I went to the door to her bedroom. I knocked on it.

"Gwen?" I asked.

There was still no answer. I sighed in defeat and went to my room to change into my costume.

 _Later In The City_

I landed on one of the rooftops in the downtown area, panting as I did.

"Jesus, where is an alien that can allow me to swing around like Spider-Man when I need it?" I asked, still panting from exerting so much energy in a short time.

I thought I saw a figure on a distant rooftop.

"No, don't tell me that's her." I said, as I slowly began to run again.

I jumped off of the roof I was on, went into a flip on the way down and my feet made contact with roof below.

"Yep, it's her again." I said, as I continued getting closer to the rooftop she was on.

Once I got to the same rooftop as her, if I hadn't already confirmed it, I just now confirmed it. It was Lucky Girl.

"You again?!" I exclaimed, a little disappointed.

She chuckled a little bit.

"Down boy." she said, as she put her hand on my chest, pushing me a little bit. "After last night, I could figure you could use help. Speaking of last night, how's your mouth? It was bleeding pretty bad last night."

"Mouth _and_ my nose. I landed face first onto the floor in the library." I said wincing at the thought about it. "Hurts when I sniffle. My mouth is dry as hell and my lips sting whenever I lick them."

"Well, like I said: I thought that you could use the help." she said.

I shook my head as I walked past her.

"You should go home. Rest up." I said, as I looked out over the city.

"I have rested. Besides, I didn't have a great morning. So I had to get out of there." Lucky Girl said.

"You're not the only one." I said, thinking back to my encounter with Gwen this morning.

"Want to talk about it? I'm willing to listen if no one else will." Lucky Girl said.

"No. We can't talk about each other's daily lives." I said.

"How else do you suggest we build trust between one another?" she asked.

I said nothing at first, as I thought about it.

 _She wasn't wrong._

"Please, friend. Partner." she said, as I felt her hand on my shoulder.

I turned around to face her.

"You first." I said.

"Someone close to me thinks that they can be around when they're needed." Lucky Girl eventually said, with a frown coming on to her face.

"I'm sorry." I said. "A person close to me doesn't think that I'll ever be able to be there for them. And I'm starting to think they're right. Since I do what I do, I'm constantly getting in and out of this costume."

Lucky Girl looked at me, smirking a little bit.

"Thanks for that. It makes me feel a little better, knowing that you're trying." she said, as she stepped forward.

She began to slowly pull up my mask and my immediate reaction was grabbing her wrist, stopping her. But before I could speak, she beat me to it.

"Hey, hey, hey! Keep your shirt on, Alien Guy!" she said, before she finished pulling my mask up to my nose.

She gently pecked my cheek. She stepped back and I felt my cheek for a second.

"I'm trying, I really am. I'd just like to know if you're trying." she said. "Is the partnership still on the table? Please tell me it is."

"It is. But you still need to earn my trust." I said.

"I'm trying. I _will_ earn your trust. Just you watch." she said.

"I know you will. I will always be watching you in action." I said.

She seemed to see something and began to chuckle followed by her beginning to giggle.

"What? Is there something on my face?" I asked, pulling my mask back down.

"Whoo-hoo!" I heard a masculine whoop of joy from behind me as I felt a sudden weight on my shoulders.

"Ow! Holy sweet Jesus!" I exclaimed, as I watched the person who jumped me do a front flip through the air after launching himself off of my shoulders.

I watched the person do a twist while still in the air, before landing on his feet. It was Albedo.

"I'm here!" he exclaimed, grinning as he put his fists on his hips.

I face palmed, while Lucky Girl just gave him a weird look.

"You are such a dork." I said, looking back up at him.

"I know you are, but what am I?" he asked, with that same grin on his face.

"An ass." I said. "You interrupted the moment I was having with Lucky Girl."

"Wait, we were having a moment?" Lucky Girl asked.

"Yes, a moment. A moment of opening up to one another, but a moment nonetheless." I said.

"Yeah, I saw what you were doing." Albedo said. "I was trailing you since you left home, man!"

That's when I noticed that Albedo was wearing wrist gauntlets like mine.

"You fuck, did you swipe my -" I stopped myself when I looked at my wrists, to see they were still there. "No, you didn't swipe my wrist gauntlets. Where did you get them?"

"I further advanced the designs that Ben Tennyson made. Who's genetic structure I am based off of, I might add." Albedo said, as he winked at me.

"What advancements are there?" I asked.

"Um, the grapple hook is made of a higher tier of steel, so it can dig into almost any surface, the cable is more dense and durable, so I can swing from it." Albedo said.

"Yeah, that's exactly not what I wanted the wrist gauntlets to be used for. They were supposed to be used only for emergencies only, to get yourself out of danger if you really need to." I said, as I looked at Lucky Girl. "And I've seen yours in action, too. It's the exact thing that Ben didn't design it for."

"Yeah, so you didn't really make an advancement." Lucky Girl said, looking at Albedo.

"I was about to say that if fires faster than both of yours." Albedo said, as he aimed one of his wrists at me.

"No, no, no! Wa-" he interrupted me by firing his gauntlet and the hook fired, whizzing past my ear, catching me off guard.

"What the 'H' dude?" I asked him.

"Wow, your's fires even faster than mine!" Lucky Girl exclaimed, her face was in awe.

Then, all hell broke loose because of what Albedo said next.

"Bow chicka bow wow!" he exclaimed, trying not to laugh as he did.

I grabbed the wire to his grapple hook and pulled on it as hard as I could, sending him flying towards me. Once he got to me, I punched him in the jaw, a little harder than I intended to. It send him backwards a little bit, causing his grapple hook to remove itself to the wall.

Lucky Girl crossed her arms over her chest, with a look of disapproval on her face.

"Ow!" Albedo said, as he rubbed his jaw. "What the hell was that for?"

"For saying that. Whatever that was." I said.

Before we could resolve whatever this was, we heard a commotion down on the streets.

"Attention, Vagos!" a man from below exclaimed. "We are giving you a chance to surrender!"

"Go fuck yourself!" another man exclaimed.

"Alright! We're going to open fire!" the first man exclaimed, seconds before the gunfire started.

"We good?" I asked Albedo, as I offered my hand to help him up.

After a few seconds, his look of hate changed to a look of acceptance, I guess?

"Yeah, we're good." he said, grabbing my hand, slapping it as he did. "I've kicked your ass enough times as it is!"

All three of us walked to the edge of the building so we could see what was going on. No one had been killed yet, but I imagine that had yet to change.

"Are we going to do this?" Albedo asked.

"We kind of have to, don't we?" I asked.

"So, how do we do this?" Lucky Girl asked.

"You and Albedo take care of one of the gangs." I said. "I'll take care of the other."

"All by yourself? No way!" Lucky Girl exclaimed.

"We don't have four people, so I don't see another choice." I said. "And I always wanted to work alone. But I guess I have a partner in training now. Doesn't mean that I can't take on a group solo when with you."

"Alien Guy, you're asking for assisted suicide going up against an enemy gang armed to the teeth alone." he said, as he flipped off of the building. "I'll pray for you."

"He's right, you know. You're nuts." Lucky Girl said, before she dove off the roof after Albedo.

I jumped off of the roof and used the grapple to zip me behind the gang I would be taking on.

"Whoo-hoo!" I heard Albedo whoop, as I saw him sprint by the other gang in his Dark XLR8 form, tripping every gang member with his tail.

"Show off." I whispered under my breath.

I poked my head out beside one of the gang member's heads, him not noticing me.

"Hey, are you having a party? Why wasn't I invited?!" I asked the guy.

"What the fuck?" he asked, as he noticed me.

"Now I got to punish ya'll for not sending out an invitation." I said, as they all noticed me.

I tapped my fist into my palm and then ran past all of the gang members, punching all of them the whole way. I next dialed up the alien watch and transformed into Diamondhead.

"And you get a diamond! And you get a diamond! And you get a diamond!" I said, as I took all of them off of their feet, one at a time.

All but one of them stayed down. One of them got up, pointing his sawed off AK-47 at me the whole way up.

"You're dead fucker!" the thug told me, seconds before he would pull the trigger.

But before he could fire, his gun began to glow orange. He turned his head in a bit of a panic, as he looked at his gun. I noticed that sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead.

"Okay, what the hell is going on? Okay, stop! Oka- Ow. Ow, ow. Ow! Ow! Ack! Ow! O- Arrgh!" the man screamed at the top of his lungs, spinning around in a circle, firing his gun into the air before collapsing.

Once he had collapsed, I stared in horror and in fascination, at the design of the gun's grip having been seared into his palm. I looked to my right, to see Lucky Girl standing there, with her arm outstretched, pointed at where the man had been standing.

Her eyes were glowing hot pink, but they eventually reverted back to their natural blue color and she lowered her arm.

"So this is what the city has come to." she said, as she looked at me.

I was about to respond, when we heard the screech of a motorcycle. We both looked to see Albedo whooping as he rode the motorcycle past his targets, while _still_ in his Dark XLR8 form.

 _How did he get one of those?_

"That guy, scares me." Lucky Girl said, as she looked back at me.

I was about to respond when, again, we were interrupted, this time, by an explosion. We both turned to see that Albedo had crashed his cycle, causing it to explode.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed, as I ran over to the flames, Lucky Girl right behind me.

We made it the flames and wreckage from the motorcycle, but there was no sign of Albedo.

"Albedo?" I asked, out loud.

I got no answer, but saw a green flash from underneath the wreckage. The motorcycle fell over, revealing Albedo standing there, unscathed from the flames. I smiled in seeing him still alive.

"What are you girls looking at?" he asked.

 _Later_

"So, you wanna tell me what we're doing here?" Albedo asked, as he stood up on a rooftop.

"We're gonna watch Lucky Girl. She said she was going home now, but I imagine before long she'll take off that mask." I said.

"So... We're peeping?" Albedo asked.

I shot him a look of disapproval. He shrunk back with shame.

"Sorry." he said.

"You are such a pervert. Get your head out of the gutter." I said, as I looked back to the rooftop Lucky Girl was on.

"So, how's the relationship with Gwen going?" he asked. "Have you made any moves on her yet?"

I shook my head.

"She's still in love with me, but it's not _me_ me." I said.

"Oh, she's still doing that?" he asked.

I nodded, a tear coming to my eye.

"Oh, I'm sorry man. Truly." he said, a few seconds passed until he spoke next. "Um, speaking of Gwen, you might want to look at this."

"Why?! What's happening?!" I said, as I looked back over at Lucky Girl.

She didn't have black hair anymore, she was holding her utility belt in her hand and she now had fiery red hair.

"No." I said, in disbelief.

Lucky Girl turned to her right, not seeing us and took off her mask. That's when I saw it. Her emerald green eyes instead of blue eyes, which confirmed it.

"Gwen, is Lucky Girl." I whispered in shock.

"Holy shit!" Albedo whispered, as he looked back at me. "Now I feel bad about flirting with her!"

I ignored the second thing he just said.

 _Oh my God, what a mind fuck! She was Lucky Girl the whole time?! And she tried to seduce me on a rooftop! I've never been more disappointed in her!_

I let out a groan of pain, as I held my head. It felt like that headache that I had this morning was coming back.

"Oh, are you okay man?" Albedo asked.

I shook my head, as the pain began to get worse and worse.

"No. I think I'm getting a migraine." I said, as I began to groan from the pain.

Then, I just couldn't take it anymore. I clamped my hands over my ears and began to let out agonizing screams.

 _Gwen_

"Arrgh! O-Ow! Ow!" I heard someone's pained screams.

I looked up to see Alien Guy up on the rooftop to my right, holding his head and screaming in pain.

 _What was wrong with him?_

Eventually, his arms went slack by his sides, as if he'd lost consciousness. I put my utility belt back on, followed by my mask, just in case. Seconds later, he just slowly fell over his left, falling off of the rooftop, towards the one I was on. I gasped and began to sprint towards the wall of the next building over.

I fired my grappling hook into the wall and ran up the wall, and caught him before he touched the floor of the roof. Don't ask me how I managed to catch him. Maybe I was just lucky.

 _Ben_

I have no idea what was going on. All I could recollect is that I got a huge pain in my head and I lost complete control over myself. I could hardly hear anything and it was like I was blind, when I fell over the edge of the building.

I thought I was done for, but some caught me. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground, with my head in someone's lap.

"Alien Guy?" Lucky Girl called out.

 _No, not Lucky Girl. Gwen. Gwen, is Lucky Girl._

"Can you hear me?" Gwen finished talking.

I couldn't speak for a few seconds, but eventually all five of my senses came back, fully working.

"Yes, Gwen. I can hear you." I said.

She answered too quickly.

"Gwen? Who's Gwen?" Lucky Girl said, as her eyes darted back and forth.

"Don't even try that, Gwen." Albedo said, as I looked up to see him crawling down the wall of the building to where we were at. "We saw the whole thing. We saw you unmask yourself and take off that belt of yours."

I didn't even question why Albedo was crawling on the wall. Maybe it was just a side effect of that weird migraine.

"You two were spying on me?!" Gwen asked, as she got up, causing me to hit my head on the roof.

"Ow." I replied, as I began to feel nauseous.

"How dare you?! What happened to trust?!" Gwen exclaimed angrily. "I trusted you!"

"Trust is one way Gwen. I didn't trust you because I had no idea who you were." I said, as the nausea got worse. "Now I know who you are. And I'm willing to trust you, because I know who you are."

Before she could speak, Albedo beat her to it.

"Hey man, what was that migraine thing you were talking about?" he asked.

"I don't know." I said, as I rolled over onto my stomach. "All I know, is that it was _bad_." I said.

I began to crawl on my stomach towards the edge of the roof.

"Um, Alien Guy?" Gwen asked, not sounding angry anymore.

"Are you okay?" Albedo finished her question.

"Feel like I'm going to be sick." I said, as I looked over the edge of the rooftop.

I noticed no one was around on the street level, before pulling my mask up to my nose. And then I threw up my breakfast. After a few seconds, I finished throwing up. I stood back up and wiped my mouth on my sleeve, before lowering my mask again.

I turned back around and let out a sigh of relief, now feeling better.

"You doing okay now?" Albedo asked.

I nodded.

"I think so." I replied.

"Can we get back to trust issues?" Gwen asked.

I shook my head.

"Not right now." I said.

"What was the migraine like?" Albedo asked.

"Um, very, very painful. It felt like my head was going to explode." I said. "Why would you ask that?"

Albedo shrugged. Just then, the pain in my head returned.

"Oh my, - Ow! What is that?" I asked, as I held my head again. "It feels my like my brain wants to crawl out of my skull!"

"It's happening again?" Albedo asked.

I nodded, as the pain in my head began to increase.

"Arrgh! Ow! Ow!" I exclaimed, as I held my head, the pain becoming unbearable.

That's when literally out of nowhere, in his mutated form, Kevin just jumped out in front of me, landing on all four, or six limbs rather. That's when I noticed that the pain in my head was the worst. I felt dead right now.

The pain was so intense that I just fell over, refusing to move any farther. Kevin approached me and picked me up, being completely limp as he did. Albedo and Gwen did nothing to help me. Thanks guys.

"Kill you." Kevin said, in a satanic voice, as he reached for the alien watch.

I was at the mercy of Kevin. The pain in my head was shooting through the roof. I literally felt like I was going to die any second now. But before Kevin could touch me, he was shot in the back by something.

Based on his reaction, whatever he was shot with wasn't meant to hurt him, just to get his attention. He turned around, dropping me, as he did and let out a growl of irritation. As he walked away from me and towards whatever had shot him, I noticed that the pain in my head was beginning to cease.

Was it possible that the pain in my head depended on Kevin's proximity to me?

"Down boy." Sixsix said, as Albedo and Gwen dragged me away, helping me up as well. "We aren't allowed to kill him. It's not for us to do."

"How did Sixsix and Kevin get together? Computer dating?" I asked.

"They're not the only ones, bro." Albedo said, as he pointed. "Look!"

I watched as four other of my old villains joined their alliance. Well, one of them I didn't recognize. He was some pale skinned dude in maroon colored robes, holding a staff as he levitated. Next I saw Vilgax.

 _Huh, didn't take him to be the team type._

Next was Zombozo, the first villain that I ever faced. He should be in jail, still. Next was Savage Animo? How is he able to control himself in this state? I just looked at the six villains standing over us. It seemed obvious to me now.

"Hey guys?" I asked. "I think we're screwed."

"Yeah. You are." Sixsix said.

A/N: So, what did you think of this chapter? This took a lot out of me, posting two chapters today, this one and the last chapter for my first ever Bwen fanfiction. So, Ben now knows that Gwen is Lucky Girl. Speaking of Gwen, their relationship is pretty shaky right now, but I promise that won't last for long. As for the Insidious Seven, which yes, I know there were only six of them, but the mysterious leader will reveal themselves in the next chapter. And let me just tell you that the next two chapters are going to be intense! So, be here for that! Please don't forget to follow, favorite and all that good stuff if you enjoyed this chapter! Well, I'm going to go, so have a great day and bye!


	31. Chapter 31: Insidious Seven: Part One

Chapter 31: Insidious Seven: Part 1

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty one! So, Ben and Co. have officially met the Insidious Seven. Although their mysterious leader awaits in the shadow, Ben will meet said leader at the end of this chapter. For those of you who are wondering about those headaches that Ben had last chapter, they're like a warning system. He get's those headaches whenever he's near Kevin in his mutated form. The headaches basically are an advantage for Kevin, as if he is standing right next to Ben, the pain will be too great for him and he will be unable to fight. If any of you are questioning Albedo's loyalty to Ben, like you don't trust him, well Albedo will do something in this chapter that will show you he is loyal to Ben. But, I don't have anything else to say, so let's get on with this chapter!

 _Ben_

"You are _so_ screwed, it's not even funny." Sixsix said.

I looked at Kevin, who stared back at me. The pain in my head was still there, but it was bearable.

"Ow." I whispered, putting one hand on my forehead.

"You okay?" Gwen whispered, as I felt her hand on my shoulder.

"Pain in my head." I said, as I looked back up at Kevin. "I don't know what it is."

Albedo wasn't having this. Albedo lifted his arm and fired his grapple hook, which embedded itself into Sixsix's armor.

"No, Albedo! Don't!" I exclaimed, as his grapple began to quickly pull him towards Sixsix.

As soon as he reached Sixsix, Albedo kicked him square in the jaw. After that, Albedo kicked off of Sixsix's chest, retracting his grapple hook as we went. Albedo went into a back flip as he soared through the air, before landing on his feet seconds later, right next to Gwen and I.

I was about to say something, when Sixsix beat me to it.

"Wow! Now _that_ wasn't nice!" he exclaimed, as he recovered from the attack.

"Show off." I whispered to Albedo.

"Now isn't the time to argue." Albedo said, still looking up at the six villains above us.

In a split second, Sixsix's rocket boots fired up and he flew up into the air. I watched as he flew upwards and then, redirected his flight pattern, heading right for us.

"Oh shit!" I exclaimed, as I tried to run out of his field of view.

I looked back to see Gwen running the other way and Albedo just standing there, doing nothing.

"Albedo, what are you doing?!" I exclaimed, my voice full of worry.

He just looked at me, not doing anything to get out of the way, seconds before Sixsix rammed into him, taking Albedo along for the ride.

"Albedo!" I yelled, as Sixsix flew away with him.

I looked at Gwen, who looked back at me with worry.

"Lucky Girl, we have to do something!" I exclaimed.

She nodded, but before we could do anything, the headache came back in full force. I let out agonized screams, as Kevin jumped down from the rooftop above us, landing nearly a foot away from me.

Gwen, not suffering the symptoms that I had, put her arm around my shoulder and tried to get me away from Kevin.

"I know I have to fight Kevin. But every time I get close to him, my head feels like it'll explode!" I said, struggling to speak.

" _That_ is Kevin?!" Gwen asked, as she forcefully dragged me away, since my legs refused to work.

"Yeah. Long sto-" I was speaking, when out of nowhere, a green tentacle wrapped around my throat, cutting off my air flow.

 _Albedo_

I kept my arms around Sixsix's neck, as we flew around.

"Why don't you let go kid?" Sixsix said, as he tried to shake me off. "We both know that you don't have the balls to strangle me!"

"Hey, I gotta try!" I said, as I tightened my grip around his neck.

"Determination. You're a determined little fucker, you know that?" Sixsix asked. "But I like that. You have more determination than your friends down there. Never lose that gift."

Before I could respond, he elbowed me in the stomach, which took my breath away.

"Mind the fall." Sixsix said, before elbowing me again.

This caused me to loose my grip on him completely and I fell. And there was bad news, that being that I was at least twenty feet up from the nearest solid ground. Good news, I could still use the Dark Omnitrix.

 _Ben_

I tried to pull on the tentacle that had wrapped itself around my throat, but it wouldn't come off. I was slowly being pulled closer to Kevin, and the headache slowly began to get worse.

Suddenly, I was released from the tentacle, as I heard Kevin roaring from behind me. I heard a crash behind me, as I rubbed my throat, gasping for air. I looked up at Gwen, with her arm outstretched, to see that her eyes were glowing hot pink, and she had a hot pink aura around her hand.

I turned around to look at Kevin, to see that a vegetation vine was making it's way back to his arm, which turned back into the Diamondhead arm it was before.

 _How can Kevin summon a vegetation arm? I didn't have that form when he absorbed the alien watch's energy!_

While he was stunned, I turned back to Gwen, whose eyes had returned to their previous state.

"Thanks." I said, as I got up, still rubbing my throat.

"Of course." she said.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward me, so I could whisper into her ear.

"Keep him away from me!" I hissed in her ear. "I know I should fight him, but I just can't in my situation! You have to keep him off of me, fight him for me! But if it looks like he'll overpower you, do that trick you can do and _get away_! You can't risk yourself for me, you're too important. Keep him off of me, but don't endanger yourself!"

After I let go of her and tried to walk past her, she grabbed my forearm, stopping me. She pulled me back and looked at me.

"What to you mean I can't risk myself for you?" she asked.

I forced my arm out of her grip and walked past her.

"Maybe after all of this, I'll have the guts to tell you what I mean." I said, as I turned back around, looking at the other four villains up there.

"Who's next?!" I shouted.

All of a sudden a black and white Diamondhead landed right next to me.

"Hey, what'd I miss?" Albedo asked me, as Savage Animo leaped off of the rooftop.

"Kevin tried to choke me out." I said, as I dialed up the alien watch. "Lucky Girl managed to save me and she's keeping him away from me."

Zombozo jumped off of the roof and ran towards me. He reached me faster than I thought he would and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Hiya, kid! Remember me?" he asked, shaking me, as I began to feel fallow inside.

That was the thing with Zombozo. Any direct contact with him, and he slowly drained your happiest memories, starting with the most recent. If he held on for too long, it would leave you feeling hollow inside.

"Oh, no! Not this time, clown!" I exclaimed, as I kicked myself out of his grip.

I landed a couple of feet way from him and transformed into Diamondhead, only I was trying for Heatblast.

"Ha! You have to transform into your Diamondhead form?" Albedo asked.

"No, I was going for Heatblast." I said, as I fired a few crystals at Zombozo. "What took you so long?"

"Sixsix dropped me a block or two away from this rooftop. It took a while for me to find my way back." Albedo said, as Savage Animo charged him.

Sixsix flew back down and joined the their side of the fight.

"The rest of the Insidious Seven, attack!" Sixsix exclaimed.

"Insidious Seven? But there's only six of them!" Albedo exclaimed, as he fought with Savage Animo.

"I noticed." I said, as I fended off Zombozo still.

The flying dude with the staff of some kind flew in closer to us and the eyes at the top of his staff lit up dark red. All of a sudden, Albedo began to levitate.

"Whoa! Put me down! Um dude, put me down!" he exclaimed.

"My name is Hex and you will not be put down." the sorcerer said. "Your day of reckoning has arrived."

He sent Albedo flying into me, causing us to crash into the floor. He quickly got up off of me and offered me his hand, just as I did for him earlier today.

"Kind of funny, you know?" he asked, as I took his hand. "Us, fighting alongside one another, like brothers?"

"You're lucky if Lucky Girl didn't hear that." I said, as we got back into the fight. "But yes, it's odd that you and I are fighting alongside each other, with our alien forms of course."

"So, you think we're ready to live in the same house like brothers?" he asked, as I fired shards at our enemies.

"Don't push it." I said.

 _This isn't going to work. We need to get out of here._

"Get Lucky Girl. We're out of here." I said. "We have to run."

"Are you sure?" Albedo asked, as he fired dark shards.

"Go!" I exclaimed, before back flipping off of the roof.

 _Later_

We were hiding in an alley, as the Insidious Six, or Seven, whatever, were looking for us.

"What do you think they want with us?" Gwen whispered.

I let out a sigh, shaking my head in confusion.

"There's only six of them, yet they call themselves the Insidious Seven." Albedo said, as he crawled around on the brick wall.

"How the hell do you do that?" I asked him, as he stopped crawling and just sat again the wall, sticking to it.

"I improved Ben's design on those gloves you wear. I can actually crawl on walls, instead of just being able to stick to them." Albedo whispered.

"Jesus, how many of Ben's inventions are being improved on?" I asked, obviously jealous.

Gwen shrugged.

"How did you find that belt that changes your appearance?" Albedo asked, crawling down the wall so he could look at Gwen. "And don't tell me that's not what changes your appearance, because I know that's what it is."

Gwen looked up, away from Albedo, with a longing look in her eyes, before letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Yes. That's what it does." she said, looking back at Albedo.

"I'm also curious." I said. "Where'd you get it?"

Gwen looked down for a second, before speaking.

"I found it -" she began speaking, when the headache started to return.

I held my head, as the pain drowned out the sound of Gwen's voice. But she broke through anyway.

"Alien Guy? What? Where? Where is he?" she asked.

I winced in pain as it got worse.

"He's close. And he's gaining." I said, as the pain got even worse. "It's like he's sniffing us out!"

The pain got worse and worse, when all a sudden, a piece of paper fluttered down to us. And then, the pain rushed away, telling me that Kevin was gone.

"Look, a note!" I said, as I picked it up, the pain going away.

"What's it say?" Albedo asked, jumping down from the wall.

"Someone valuable has been taken from each of you." I began to read aloud. "Find us before nightfall, or we'll kill our hostages."

"I'll go look for them." Albedo said, as he ran to the end of the alley.

He turned back to look at us.

"You two stay together and try to find them." Albedo said, as he turned his head in my direction, winking at me. "I'm heading out though!"

After he left, I thought to myself, confused on why Albedo winked at me.

 _Was he thinking that if he left, than I could start flirting with Lucky Girl, or Gwen rather? I mean, I appreciated the gesture to an extent, but now was not the time for that._

"Where do we even start?" Gwen asked.

I shrugged.

"I don't know. But we better start looking." I said, in a worried tone. "It'll be dark in a few hours."

"You're right. We gotta move." Gwen said, as we ran out of the alley, side by side.

 _One Hour Later_

"You don't have to fight him. We can just run!" Gwen exclaimed, as Kevin moved closer to us.

"No. It's up to me to fight him. If we run, he'll chase us. And the closer he gets, the worse the headache will get for me." I said, as I dialed up the alien watch. "I'll see if I can fight him in one of my alien forms. If I pass out from the pain, so be it. Just run."

"But you can't fight him alone!" Gwen exclaimed, with her hand on my shoulder.

"Have faith Lucky Girl. Isn't that right?" I asked, before transforming into Heatblast.

I walked up to Kevin and began bombarding him with fireballs, as the pain in my head began to grow. The pain was nowhere near as bad as it would have been while in my human form.

About maybe a minute into the fight, Gwen jumped in, ninja kicking Kevin in the face.

"What the hell?" I asked, as she kicked off of his face. "I told you to stay out of this!"

"I told you I can't let you fight alone!" she said, as she attacked Kevin from behind.

I let out a sigh.

 _She's a girl after my own heart._

"Just don't get yourself killed." I whispered, as Kevin lunged at me.

He grabbed my neck with two of his hands, which some how didn't hurt him.

"Kill you!" he exclaimed, in that same satanic voice.

 _I don't get it. What does he want with me? And why do I get a headache every time I go near Kevin?!_

I didn't need Gwen's help this time. I kicked him off of me, sending him flying. I ran up to Kevin and began throwing punches at him. Eventually he just fell over, but I continued beating on him until I got tired.

"Don't mess with me, Kevin! I'm being totally serious!" I exclaimed.

All of a sudden two if his arms turned into those vines, and they wrapped around my arm and leg, picking me up. He started growling in anger at me, when a voice interrupted him.

"Kevin!" I heard Savage Animo's voice.

Kevin and I both looked over at Savage Animo, who was pointing at us.

"Sit." Savage Animo said, as if he were talking to a dog.

Kevin dropped me immediately, letting out a roar of rage and ran to pounce on Animo. Lucky Girl came over to me, as I got up, rubbing my neck in confusion.

"I thought they were a team, and here Kevin is mauling his own team mate!" I exclaimed.

Gwen just shrugged. Just then, I heard a sniper rifle cock from at least a block away. Yeah uh, because of Wildmutt, four of my senses had been increased to superhuman levels.

I was practically the equivalent of Daredevil, only you know, not blind.

"Get out of the way!" Albedo said angrily from nowhere, as he pushed me out of the way, taking a bullet that was obviously for me. He grunted in pain as he fell to the floor of the roof.

I looked up, to see Sixsix cursing in anger on a rooftop not far from us.

"I warned you." Albedo said, in a weak voice.

"Why?" I asked, as I looked down at him, surprised to see no blood at all.

"You're too important to die." he said, in the same weak voice.

"We need to get you to a hospital." I said, as I helped Albedo up, putting my arm around his neck.

"No need." Albedo weakly said, as he slowly lifted up his shirt, revealing a vest of some kind.

"A bulletproof vest? How-" I began to speak, but he interrupted.

"Your Grandpa Max is a genius." he said, looking at Gwen.

"My Grandpa? Did he give you that?" she asked.

Albedo nodded.

"Hey, Sixsix is still on the roof!" Gwen said, pointing at the roof he was on, as I timed out.

"Hold on." I said, as an angry look came onto my face.

I fired my grapple hook to the rooftop that Sixsix was on and took off leaving Gwen and Albedo in confusion. It took me a while to get up to the roof that Sixsix was up on, but as soon as I got up there, I punched him in the face, knocking him back.

"That's for Albedo!" I exclaimed, as I retracted my grapple hook and prepared to punch him again.

I kept punching him in the face and I was going to stop when my fists began to hurt a lot, when his visor thing shattered.

"I should kill you! I sho-" I was yelling at Sixsix, but I stopped when I saw his face underneath his helmet.

I saw the burn scars that made up the entirety of his facial skin. It was Leon Jones, who I thought was dead.

"Leon?" I asked in surprise.

"Who the hell is Leon? My name is Sixsix!" he said, giving me a look of hate, as he pointed one of his alien rifles at me.

"What? Are you gonna kill me?" I asked.

"No. It's not your time." Sixsix said. "You should go. You only have a couple hours left. Don't worry, you'll get to where you're going."

I looked at him strangely as he flew away from me. I finally got over my confusion and grappled back to where Albedo and Gwen were waiting. Albedo seemed to have regained some of his strength and Kevin and Animo had left the rooftop, to fight it out somewhere else.

"Is it just me, or are we getting our butts kicked?" Albedo asked.

"It's just you." Gwen and I said in unison.

"I'll go track Sixsix or any others down." Albedo said, as he ran for the edge of the roof.

"Wait, Albedo!" I exclaimed, but he was already gone.

I let out a sigh as I looked Gwen.

"Well... Back to work, I guess?" I asked, before she nodded in response.

 _Twenty Minutes To Sunset_

"Sixsix just doesn't give up!" I exclaimed as Gwen and I ran side by side one another, as Sixsix chased behind us.

"This moment, does it uh, remind you of anything?" Gwen asked, as I looked at her, a mischievous grin playing on her face.

The look in her eyes was the same twinkle she had in her eyes last night, when she attempted to flirt with me in a over the top way. I loosely used the words, over the top.

"Please don't bring that up." I said, as I dodged one of Sixsix's plasma blasts.

"Oh, does it make you uncomfortable?" Gwen asked in a high pitched voice.

"It's distracting." I said, as we both leaped off of the building, firing our grappling hooks into the wall of said building.

Don't ask me how, but Sixsix flew right past us, without even noticing us. I let out a sigh of relief as we hung upside down.

"Shit. That was intense." I said, as I lifted up my mask to catch my breath.

"Why the mask?" Gwen asked.

"We all wear masks." I said, as I lifted my mask up to my nose. "And sometimes it gets hard to breath under this thing."

"I bet." Gwen replied, as I got a suspicious feeling that we were being moved closer together.

I looked up to see that the wires on our grapple hooks were intertwining together.

 _Oh boy._

In under barely thirty seconds, because of the tangled wires, our bodies were pressing up against one another.

Gwen was blushing the deepest shade of red I'd seen from her yet.

"Well, this is awkward." she said, as I felt her breathing against my nose.

"Um, yeah." I said, as I felt my face heating up. "You know how we can make this less awkward?"

"How?" Gwen asked.

I caught Gwen completely off guard by grabbing her chin and kissing her. She was so surprised that it took a couple of seconds for her to return the kiss. She eventually did, put her gloved hand on my chin. After a couple seconds, I pulled away.

 _The only reason I kissed her, is because I can. It's not because she's Lucky Girl. It's because now I know she's Gwen. And even in my Alien Guy attire, I am comfortable with kissing her now._

Gwen smirked at me.

"I knew it! You do have romantic feelings for me, don't you?" she asked.

"Play your cards right and maybe." I said, as I detached my grapple hook and flipped down the ground.

Gwen followed quickly.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"Good night, Lucky Girl." I said, as I kissed her on the cheek.

She blushed at the gesture.

"But, we still have to look for the hostages! We might only have fifteen minutes left!" she exclaimed.

"Go home Gwen." I said. "I'll stay out all night and look for them. It's just a part of my life now. And you and Albedo need your sleep, wherever he is right now."

She sighed.

"Okay. I'll see you. Good night Alien Guy." Gwen said, as she backed up and fired her grapple hook up to another building.

 _You'll get the guts to reveal your identity to her eventually._

"Thanks." I said, talking to the random voice that had just popped into my head.

I saw Sixsix fly by again and after turning around to track him, I fired my grapple hook up to a building to pursue him. I pursued him by jumping from rooftop to rooftop, until he led me to a very dark park area.

Once I landed in the area, I began to look around, but couldn't see anything. I could tell that I wasn't the only one in this semi-wooded area, as I could hear multiple people breathing.

"Sixsix?" I called out, getting no response.

Suddenly, the area became lit up by several torches places around us in a circle. I looked around me in fear, seeing almost all of my loved ones and friends were all on their knees on the ground. Albedo was there, who's nose was bleeding, as well as Grandpa Max, J.T. and Cash, Gwen's brother Ken and worst of all, Gwen herself was here.

I now noticed that all of the members of the Insidious Seven were here.

"Hey, you made it! Welcome to where you're going!" Sixsix said, walking up to me with open arms.

I looked around in fear, to see that a few of their hostages were crying.

"We can talk ab-" I began to speak, but Sixsix interrupted me.

"We're done talking. Time to listen." he said, in threatening tone. "I'm gonna need to to get down on your knees. It's time you met the big man in charge."

I didn't do what I was told, all I could do was stand there.

"On your knees!" Sixsix exclaimed, as he forced me down to the rocky floor of the park.

After he had forced me onto my knees, he backed away from me and nodded.

"Alright! Everyone's here! Let's meet the man!" he exclaimed.

I just stared at the ground, as my face began to sweat from the fear.

"Hey Sixsix, what's my line?" I heard a new voice, that sounded eerily familiar. "Oh, yeah. That's it. It's going to be pee-pee pants city here real soon."

I was quivering in fear as I looked up at the person talking. No, it wasn't a person. I looking at the thing I was scared of most. It was Ghostfreak.

A/N: And that's it. Ghostfreak is the mysterious leader of the Insidious Seven! And there is yet another small romance starting between Lucky Girl and Ben, now that he knows who Lucky Girl is. And I will tell you first hand that the next chapter is going to be really intense. The next chapter will be, I guess, the second time a character comes dangerously being killed off. What did you think of the growing bond between Albedo and Ben? Also, what about how Albedo took a bullet for Ben? Well, I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye!


	32. Chapter 32: Insidious Seven: Part Two

Chapter 32: Insidious Seven: Part 2

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty two! So, just a bit of a recap, Ghostfreak was the mastermind behind the formation of the Insidious Seven. Ghostfreak is the seventh member of the team, as well as their leader. This chapter will probably be the most intense chapter yet, just saying. This chapter will be the longest chapter yet, for the thirtieth anniversary chapter, that I wanted to do, but never did. I will go ahead and say that no one will die in this chapter, although it will still be intense. I just want you guys to read this chapter, so let's get on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

As the ringing in my ears continued, I stared at the ground, tears still running down my cheeks. It was getting hot inside of my mask, as I was sweating so badly from the anxiety of the previous situation.

I began to hear Ghostfreak's voice, but the ringing in my ears made it impossible to understand what he was saying. All of a sudden, my head was pulled upwards, so I could see Ghostfreak's face.

The ringing stopped and I could hear clearly again. There was silence all around me. Everyone was too afraid to talk after what had just happened.

"You still there buddy?" Ghostfreak asked. "I think that you're still in there, but I just don't know."

I looked up at Ghostfreak, meeting his one eye with my eyes.

"There you are buddy." Ghostfreak said, as he grinned sadistically. "Was it really _that_ bad?"

I looked back at the ground, tears still running down my cheeks.

"I'm going to kill you." I whispered.

"What's that? I didn't hear you." Ghostfreak said. "You're gonna have to speak up."

I kept staring at the ground, saying nothing.

"I'm serious, I want to hear what you said!" Ghostfreak said.

I still said nothing.

"Speak when your spoken to!" Ghostfreak exclaimed in an angry tone.

Letting out an angry growl, I slammed my fist into the ground, which was covered with small bits of rock. I felt blood running from the fresh cuts in my fingers, but I didn't mind. I stood up to face Ghostfreak, getting very angry.

"I'm going to kill you!" I exclaimed, my eyes beginning to glow green instead of their natural hazel color. "Not today, not tomorrow, but I will kill you!"

 _Whoa, whoa, whoa!_ _Let's recap a bit, shall we?_

 _Ten Minutes Earlier..._

 _Ghostfreak. Ghostfreak was the leader of the Insidious Seven._

Ghostfreak floated over to me, stopping in front of me.

"Hi. You're Alien Guy, right?" he said, as he moved close to my ear to whisper. "No. You're Ben Tennyson, my sworn enemy."

"Ghostfreak, I don't know what you want from me, from these people," I said, as I looked up to face him. "but we can work something out. So, let these people go, leave this between you and me, and while you're at it, you can go to Hell!"

Ghostfreak just gave me an emotionless look, and just from that, I knew that I had screwed up.

"Really?" Ghostfreak said, his voice void of any emotion. "Okay. Well, I tried being nice."

"I tried being nice!" he said, looking behind him as he laughed, looking at me again and punching me in the face as hard as he could.

My head was forced to the right, as I felt blood well up into my mouth. When I opened my eyes after the pain ceased a little, I noticed that the right glass lens in my mask had cracked from Ghostfreak's punch.

No, it hadn't cracked. It had shattered completely, some how leaving my eye undamaged. I was going to have to fix that when I had the chance, otherwise with my mask on, people would be able to see what color eyes I have. I pulled my mask up to my nose and spit out the blood in my mouth.

"My name is Zs'Skayr!" Ghostfreak shouted, not just at me, but all of us. "I'd tell you to call me that, but I honestly don't even think you can pronounce that! So, I'd tell you call me Ghostfreak if you wanted to, but you won't be around long enough for that!"

"Why? We can work this out!" I exclaimed, spitting out more blood.

"You're right. We're going to work this out. You are here so I can get, sweet, sweet revenge!" Ghostfreak said, as he pointed at me. "And you're all here to answer to this one's mess ups!"

"My mess ups? What did I do?" I asked.

"You, you worthless piece of shit, rejected me! And you hated me the most!" Ghostfreak yelled at me angrily. "When I was alive in that Omnitrix of yours, all I wanted was for you to use me as much as the other aliens! But, you didn't!"

"You were alive inside of the alien watch?" I asked, horrified.

"Yeah, I was. And I'll say it again, you used your other aliens more than you used me!" Ghostfreak exclaimed. "And I'm not comfortable with that! Not in the least! So, for that - for that, you're gonna have to pay."

I looked back at Gwen, to see tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey," Ghostfreak said, as he grabbed my jaw and forced me to look at him. "don't look at her, look at me!"

Ghostfreak looked back up at all of us.

"So, now-" he said, as he continued to look at us.

Everyone trembled in fear.

"Now, I'm going to have my goons beat the holy hell out of all of you." he said, in an emotionless voice. "One. At. A. Time."

I shook with fear, as Ghostfreak spoke again.

"Only problem is, I can't decide who'll be the first to go." he said, as he tapped his face with his fingers.

Ghostfreak floated back and forth past everyone he had here.

"Let's see who we have here. Max Tennyson, grandfather of someone here." Ghostfreak said. "Lucky Girl, the hero's partner in training. Albedo, the glorified sidekick. J.T. and Cash, two friends of someone here. And Ken Tennyson, brother of Gwen Tennyson, who is not here at the moment."

Ghostfreak winked at me. Or maybe he was blinking at me, since he had one eye?

 _I was thinking that maybe he respected my secret identity, as well as Gwen's, since he hadn't revealed our identities to everyone._

"I simply cannot decide who goes first!" Ghostfreak exclaimed, as he turned around, putting his hand on his head.

He seemed to perk up and turned around, with a evil grin on his face.

"You know what? I've got an idea!" he exclaimed.

He gestured to one of his baddies.

"Hex, your staff please." he said.

Hex threw Ghostfreak his staff and he caught it in one hand. He then walked up to me and pointed the staff at me, so it almost touched my nose.

"Eenie." he said, in a cold, emotionless voice.

My jaw dropped as Ghostfreak floated away from me, in response to how he was doing this.

"Meanie." Ghostfreak said, as he moved onto another.

 _No! He's going to randomly choose one of us to start with!_

"Minie, Moe..." Ghostfreak said, as he kept moving. "Catch... A tiger... By... His toe... If... He hollers... Let him go... My mother... Told me... To pick... The very... Best... One... And... You... Are..."

 _Gwen_

The floating ghost thing just levitated there after saying the word "and", with the staff still in his hand. He looked to his left and to his right, as an evil grin came back across his face. He faced me, as he began to hover towards me.

All I could focus on was the fact that Alien Guy was looking at me. I could see the gentle color of his hazel eye through his shattered lens. Before the ghost got in the way, blocking my view, I could tell that he was crying. He stuck the staff in my face, to the point where it just barely touched my nose.

"It." he said, in a cold voice.

 _Ben_

As much as I wanted to stop Ghostfreak from hurting Gwen first, I couldn't. Otherwise, the punishment may be worse.

"Anybody moves, anybody says anything, I will personally cut one of Alien Guy's eyes out and then we'll start." Ghostfreak said. "You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry. Hell, you'll all be doing that. Take it away, boys."

All six of Ghostfreak's goons moved in towards Gwen. But before they could strike, I yelled.

"Wait! Please, wait!" I exclaimed.

I looked to see that Animo slowly raised his arm up, ready to strike Gwen.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop what you're doing!" Ghostfreak exclaimed.

As his goons looked back at him, so did I.

"Show some decency! Let's see what the man has to say!" Ghostfreak exclaimed, as he looked at me.

"Please! I told you we can work this out and I meant it!" I exclaimed. "Just let all of these people go and take all of your anger out on me! You said it yourself! I rejected you, not them! Don't get even on them! Get even on me! So don't punish them, please!"

Ghostfreak just laughed.

"How cute! You think that you are in a position to negotiate!" he said, cackling. "I like it!"

He grabbed me by the chin and forced me to look at him.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret." he hissed into my ear. "First we're gonna start with the girl, then we'll have her brother, then your friends, then your grandfather, then your sidekick. Then I'll take your skull and we'll be even."

I dropped my jaw in fear.

"I bet you all thought that you were going to grow old together." Ghostfreak said. "No. That's not how it works. Not now and not ever."

I looked back at Gwen and watched as Animo brought his fist down on Gwen's forehead. After Animo raised his fist again, I could see a gash on Gwen's forehead, blood dripping from it. Seconds later, her eyes rolled backwards and she fell over, passing out.

"Gwen!" I screamed in anger, worry and sadness, all at the same time.

At the time, I didn't care that I revealed Lucky Girl's identity. It was only later that it clicked. I had revealed her identity.

"Oh, damn. She passed out from the first hit. We'll come back to her." Ghostfreak said, as my ears began to ring. "Next victim! Wait, no. No. Actually, just wait a second."

The ringing got worse, drowning out any noise. Tears began to roll down my cheeks. All I could think about was how I had promised myself that I would keep her safe, and how I had just failed that promise.

As the ringing in my ears continued, I stared at the ground, tears still running down my cheeks. It was getting hot inside of my mask, as I was sweating so badly from the anxiety of the previous situation.

I began to hear Ghostfreak's voice, but the ringing in my ears made it impossible to understand what he was saying. All of a sudden, my head was pulled upwards, so I could see Ghostfreak's face.

The ringing stopped and I could hear clearly again. There was silence all around me. Everyone was too afraid to talk after what had just happened.

"You still there buddy?" Ghostfreak asked. "I think you're still in there, but I just don't know."

I looked up at Ghostfreak, meeting his one eye with my eyes.

"There you are buddy." Ghostfreak said, as he grinned sadistically. "Was it really _that_ bad?"

I looked back at the ground, tears still running down my cheeks.

"I'm going to kill you." I whispered.

"What's that? I didn't hear you." Ghostfreak said. "You're gonna have to speak up."

I kept staring at the ground, not saying anything.

"I'm serious, I want to hear what you said!" Ghostfreak said.

I still said nothing.

"Speak when you're spoken to!" Ghostfreak exclaimed in an angry tone.

Letting out an angry growl, I slammed my fist into the ground, which was covered in small bits of rock. I felt blood running from the fresh cuts in my fingers, but I didn't care. I stood up to face Ghostfreak, getting very angry.

"I'm going to kill you!" I exclaimed, my eyes beginning to glow green instead of their natural hazel color. "Not today, not tomorrow, but I will kill you!"

Before Ghostfreak could even respond, I punched him in the face as hard as I could. His entire body snapped back a little and I began to see some kind of foaming white stuff drip from his face. Ghostfreak touched it and then pulled his hand back, in what looked like anger.

"You made me bleed." Ghostfreak said, as he slowly turned to face me. "That is a no no!"

 _So what, his blood is like ectoplasm? Gross..._

He turned to look at me and I gasped. I had punched him so hard, that his skull, I was assuming that's what that was, had been forced into a crooked position, cutting through his _own_ skin!

"You made me bleed." Ghostfreak said, as I noticed talons rip through the skin of his fingers. "You have no idea how bad you messed up. I'm going to gut you like a fish!"

Ghostfreak lifted up his hand, getting ready to strike me and I averted my eyes. Then, I heard Kevin let out a roar of rage. The next thing I knew, Kevin had sprinted over and pounced on Ghostfreak. The headache came back in full force and all I could do was deal with it.

I looked in awe as Kevin attempted to maul his supposed master.

"He's not yours!" Kevin yelled with rage, as he dug his Diamondhead claws into Ghostfreak's body. "He's mine!"

I watched in horror as Kevin viciously ripped Ghostfreak apart. I couldn't watch all of it, I had to avert my gaze. About a minute later, out of no where, I felt him grab me and pick me up.

"Now for you." he hissed, as I looked into his eyes.

"Kevin, you're my friend!" I said, as he held me up.

He ignored me as he grabbed my alien watch arm and began to squeeze down on it has hard as he could. He squeezed even harder, until a green electricity sparked all around us. And then, it forced away from each other. I was knocked over next to Gwen's unconscious form.

I looked up at Kevin, to see he was still in his mutated form, only he had his human head instead of his mutated form.

"Yes! Yes! Finally!" he said, as he laughed giddily.

"Kevin? What happened?" I asked with caution.

"I finally have total control!" he exclaimed, as his mutated head returned. "Now, it's time for me to leave this place."

I watched in confusion as Kevin began to leave the area. It was at this time that I noticed the headache was completely gone.

"Kevin! If you were ever for a second my friend, you're gonna stay here and help me end this!" I exclaimed.

"This is not my fight. Good luck." he said, as he kept walking.

I watched him go, before turning around to look at Gwen. I was about to take her into my arms, when I heard a voice behind me.

"The thing about a ghost, is you can't kill one." I heard Ghostfreak say from behind me.

I whirled around, to see Ghostfreak slowing rising back up. If I wasn't scared of Ghostfreak before, I sure as hell was now.

"If you thought I looked scary before, then you're a fucking wimp." he said.

All of the "muscle structure" that Kevin had ripped up had grown back. But the skin? No. That didn't come back. The only thing that remained of him were the talons, the crooked skull and the dark grey muscle structure he seemed to have.

Oh, and of course the black and white striped tentacles that were coming out of his stomach area.

"You messed up, again. Get over here." he said, coming over to me and grabbing me.

I cried out in pain as two of his talons pierced through my shoulder. He sat me down back in my original spot, only this time I was facing his hostages.

"You messed up so bad, that now the punishment is worse! Now, you're going to sit here and watch as we beat all of these people to death!" Ghostfreak exclaimed, as he pulled his talons out of my shoulder, causing me to hiss in pain. "And then I'm going to keep my promise and gut you like a fish!"

That's when something happened that surprised me. Sixsix dropped his weapon and raised his hands.

"Whoa. I'm not going to do this, boss." Sixsix said. "I may be a despicable bastard, but I'm not that despicable. Forcing the kid to watch as we all beat these people to death and then gutting him? That's sick."

 _Is Leon actually vouching for me? This is weird!_

"Oh, so you're backing out?" Ghostfreak asked with anger.

"He's not the only one." Animo said. "I'm out of here."

And just like that, Ghostfreak's team disbanded.

"Hey! You can't leave! This isn't over!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, it pretty much is." I said.

"Oh, shut up!" Ghostfreak said, as he watched his entire team leave, out of disgust. "Well, I'd kill you myself, but I'd want you to suffer first. So, I guess that means you win this round."

"So, what? You're just letting me go, after threatening to kill my family and friends?" I whispered to him.

"Yeah. I am." he said, as he leaned in to whisper to me. "If I were you Tennyson, I would get your girl to that doctor that patched you up when you were shot. You can still save her, probably."

I didn't process what he said about saving Gwen right away. I was more concerned with how he knew about, Julie, I think her name was?

"And this isn't over. I'll find you and we'll finish this." Ghostfreak said, as he began to float away. "Until then, ta-ta."

I was about to run after him, but it was no use. He'd disappeared into thin air. And besides, I had to worry about Gwen. I ran over to her unconscious form, to see that her face was pale and there was a very small puddle of blood on the right side of her head.

I had to move her now. I gently picked her up into my arms, almost crying all over again. Grandpa Max had gotten up from his spot and ran over to me.

"We have to get her to a hospital Ben." he urgently whispered to me.

"She won't make it in time. I know a place that is closer." I said. "A chick that patched me up when I was shot half a week ago."

"You were shot?! And you never got yourself to a hospital?!" Grandpa Max whispered harshly.

"Look, we can argue all you want about this, but Gwen doesn't have time." I said.

"You're right. Get her to this lady who helped you." Grandpa Max said. "And be careful. Be safe. Bring my grand daughter back."

He whispered that last part.

"I will Grandpa. I promise." I whispered back, as I dialed up the alien watch.

I transformed into XLR8 and took off.

 _Later_

 _Julie Yamamoto's Apartment_

After beating on the door to her apartment several times in panic, she finally opened the door.

"Who-?" she was asking a question, but I cut her off.

"Julie it's me!" I exclaimed, as I ripped off my mask. "Please, you have to help me!"

"Who is this?" she asked, as she came closer to inspect Gwen.

"She's my partner! Please Julie, you have to help me!" I pleaded. "She's been wounded! Please save her life!"

Julie took a look at Gwen's face, which looked a little more pale than it had been.

"She's lost a lot of blood. Bring her in. Now." Julie said, as she made room for me to carry Gwen in. "You should have come here sooner."

"I couldn't. I'm sorry." I said, as Julie walked ahead of me, clearing off a big table.

"Why?" she asked, as she put a sheet on the table. "Set her down on the table."

I sat her down.

"I-Is she going to be okay?" I asked, still crying.

"Brian, I'm going to do everything I can." Julie said, as she got out a stethoscope.

I felt like I was going to start hyperventilating. I felt so helpless.

"Does she have any spare clothes?" Julie asked, as she unzipped the top of her suit.

I averted my eyes, still in my own little world.

"I have a heartbeat. It's a little faint, but she's still here." Julie said. "Now, what about a spare change of clothes?"

My ears began to ring again, blocking out all of the noise. After a few seconds, I felt Julie grab my chin and force me to look at her.

"Brian!" she exclaimed, shaking me, causing the ringing to stop. "Brian, listen to me! I need you to stay calm! Now, answer my question!"

I took multiple deep breaths and nodded, being able to focus again.

"Okay. I'm good." I said.

"Alright." Julie, said as she turned back around to inspect Gwen's forehead wound. "Does she have a spare change of clothes?"

"No, she was only wearing the suit." I said.

"Okay, what happened to her?" Julie asked, as she walked down the hallway, leaving me with Gwen's unconscious form.

I realized that the front of her suit was still unzipped, which allowed me to see just a little. I immediately averted my eyes, letting out a nervous groan, before following Julie into the hallway.

 _No, I am better than that! If Gwen were to wake up right then, as if she were only asleep, she would give me so much shit! I feel so guilty for looking for even a second!_

"Um, she got hit on the head. I think she had been passed out for maybe ten minutes or less. I'm really not sure." I said. "I lost track of the time because of all that was happening."

"What was happening? Do you mind if I ask?" Julie asked, as she left the hallway closet with a first aid kit.

"You know, being a superhero isn't always a good experience. Like the thing that caused that in there, was so fucked up." I said. "So I hope you forgive me if I don't want to tell you."

"That's fine." Julie said, as she went back into the main room of the apartment.

She stepped in front of the table we had laid Gwen on and she opened the first aid kit, taking out, whatever she took out, I couldn't tell, as the ringing in my ears began again. I snapped myself out of the state I was in and looked back at Julie treating Gwen.

 _You need to make conversation, unless you want to lose yourself to insanity!_

I decided to listen to the voice in my head.

"Julie?" I asked.

"Damn, looks like she needs stitches." Julie whispered as she reached for the kit. "What is it?"

"Why did you ask me if she had a spare change of clothes?" I asked.

"I just think she'd be much more comfortable waking up in something other than a leather suit." she said. "You're sure she doesn't have an extra change of clothes?"

"She doesn't. Don't you have any clothes that might fit her?" I asked.

"Somewhere, probably." Julie replied. "I'll probably need your help changing her though."

I blushed a deep shade of red after comprehending what she had just said.

"No way. I can't do that." I said, still blushing.

Julie let out a growl of anger.

"Why not?" she asked, as she turned around to look at me, with an angry face.

When she saw the blush on my face, the look on her face lightened up a little, as she looked back at Gwen and then me.

"Oh." Julie said, a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

"You get it now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think I do. Jeez, I'm sorry." Julie said, as she went back to work. "Does she feel the same way about you?"

"Yes. And no." I said.

"What do you mean?" Julie asked.

"She has a crush on me when I'm playing hero, but when I'm out of the costume, she doesn't even know I exist." I said.

"Do you guys know each other out of costume?" she asked.

"Yes. But she doesn't know it yet. I know her identity, but she doesn't know mine." I said.

"Reveal your identity to her and see if that helps. See if she returns your feelings." she said. "If she doesn't, I'll be here if you need more advice."

"But Julie, how can I reveal my identity to her? There has to be a perfect way and I don't know what it is!" I said.

Julie turned around and looked at me, grabbing my chin so she could look me in the eyes.

"Only you can know what the perfect way to do that is. Have faith." she said. "There are multiple ways to steal a girl's heart."

"Thanks, Julie." I said, as her hands traveled to my shoulders.

"You're welcome." she said, as her hands came back red. "Oh my God! Your shoulder is bleeding!"

"Well, that explains it." I said.

"Explains what?" Julie asked worriedly.

"The stabbing pain in my shoulder." I said, as I let out a grunt of pain.

"You idiot!" she exclaimed as she tugged on the sleeves of my leather jacket.

I just chuckled as she pulled my leather jacket off.

"Now I have to patch you up again! My day just keeps getting better and better!" she exclaimed.

 _Thirty Minutes Later_

I sat on Julie's kitchen counter, without my shirt on. Julie cleaned the wounds on my shoulder and my knuckles, as well as bandaged them. She mentioned that I had been stabbed in the same shoulder that Sixsix had shot. Ouch.

My ears began to ring again, leaving me staring off into space, as if I were in a trance. I was getting that helplessness feeling again.

 _It was true. Gwen was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it. Why not for just once in my life, can't I get the things that I want?_

I sniffled, as tears began to come to my eyes. Julie grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her, as she called my name.

"Brian! Are you listening?" she asked, as the ringing came to a stop.

I nodded, as I looked at her.

"W-what is it?" I asked, as I tried to stop crying.

"I said that I have good news and bad news." Julie said.

"What's the good news?" I asked, as I sniffled.

"She's going to be okay." Julie said, with a smile on her face. "The bad n-"

I didn't care what she had to say next. I got up and hugged her as hard as I could. I know it was slightly inappropriate without my shirt on, but I didn't care. Julie was taken back a bit by the hug, but seeing no choice, she returned the hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed, as I kissed her cheek.

"Okay, okay. Let's not get carried away." Julie said, as she pulled away from the hug. "You're not out of the woods yet."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"That was the good news. She'll be okay." she said. "The bad news is that I have no idea how extensive the damage was and I have no idea when she will wake up. Oh _and_ I have no idea how her memory will turn out. Odds are, she won't remember this night, or at least some of it. I'd recommend that you get both yourself and her to a hospital, but I know you won't do that. Because of attracting attention to yourself, right?"

I nodded.

"That's alright. I'm just glad she's okay." I said, as I hugged her again, leaving her no choice but to return the hug.

"Thank you, so much! I owe you." I said.

"You're welcome, Brian." Julie said.

"Ben." I whispered into her ear.

Julie pulled away from the hug and gave me a confused look.

"Ben?" she asked in a confused tone.

"My name is Ben, not Brian." I said, as I smiled at her.

"But you said-" Julie began to protest, but I interrupted.

"I know what I said, but for some reason I feel like that we're not completely done here. You helping me, I mean." I said. "I thought if I'm going to be coming back with her, so you can check up on her, or anything like that, then it's time to stop using fake names. So, my name is Ben Tennyson."

I stuck out my hand and she took it several seconds later.

"Nice to meet you, Ben Tennyson." she replied, with a smirk on her face.

After she let go of my hand, she went back into the main room, where Gwen was still asleep on the table, wearing a pair of Julie's clothes that she was nice enough to lend to her.

Gwen's chest was rising and falling every few seconds, so it looked like she was going to be fine.

"Here." Julie said, handing me a long sleeved, brown shirt. "This is yours. Your "costume" has holes in it. It stays here, so I can sew up the holes."

I was about to ask if she'd really do that for me, but there was no need. I nodded at her, expressing my thanks.

"Thanks." I said, as I took the shirt from her and put it on, careful not to mess up the bandages on my shoulder. "How did you know what size I was?"

Julie shook her head.

"I didn't. The shirt was my ex-boyfriend's." she said, with a frown slowly coming onto her face. "He left a good amount of his stuff here when he left. He never was much of a good boyfriend."

"Look, thanks for this, Julie. But I need to get her home, if that's okay." I said.

She nodded.

"I can take you guys back in my car." she said. "Just tell me the address."

"Okay." I said, as I gently picked Gwen up off of the table, using my right forearm to support her head. "Let's go. Get that bag that you put her costume in, we'll get it back to you."

"It surprised me when her black hair changed to red hair." Julie said, as she opened the door for me.

"Yeah, she's just full of surprises." I replied, as I slowly maneuvered out the door with Gwen.

"Is that why you fell for her?" Julie asked, as we slowly walked down the hallway.

I looked down at Gwen's unconscious form, now complete with a bandaged forehead.

"Yep," I said, as one of my tears fell from my face and hit her cheek. "Head over heels."

 _Later That Night_

Once we had gotten home, we put Gwen into her bed and I took out her costume and placed it somewhere in her room, letting Julie take her bag back. Then, she left, leaving Gwen and I alone. I had pulled a chair from the kitchen into her room and was sitting in it, as I held Gwen's hand, as she slept. I was going to stay there until she woke up, even if I fell asleep in the process. I spoke to her as she slept.

"I originally thought that I could never bring someone so close to death back to the land of the living, but after doing that today, I've realized I can do anything!" I said. "I, for a time accepted that we would never be together. I accepted that. But after today, I couldn't have it anymore. I _have_ to be with you. I will do whatever is necessary for us to straighten out this weird relationship we have."

I sniffled, as I held her hand tighter.

"I've discovered a whole new world from this experience. I can't be alone in this new world, Gwen. I want to show you the new world, Gwen!" I said, as tears rolled down my cheeks. "I want to hold your hand as we walk through this brand new world together! So, please open your eyes!"

 _Did I seriously just quote Aladdin? Well, kind of._

"Please don't die, Gwen! I just can't live without you!"

I looked back down at the ground and began to silently cry. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt Gwen's fingers began to intertwine with mine. I stopped crying and looked up in surprise, to see Gwen's eyelids begin to flutter open.

A/N: And that was probably the most intense, as well as the longest chapter I've ever written. What did you guys think of the portrayal of Ghostfreak? Did anyone really think that I was going to kill off Gwen? Come on, this is a Bwen story! There would be no way for me to get away with killing off Gwen, even if I wanted to. I know this chapter was intense, but it was really just so Ben could feel really helpless, as well as pushing him to the brink of insanity.

What did everyone think about Julie being brought back into the story? Did anyone think that the way Ghostfreak attempted to hurt Ben was too over the top? Speaking of Ghostfreak, even though Ben escaped, he hasn't seen the last of him. Did anyone expect Ghostfreak's team to back out at the last second? Also, Kevin is kind of a neutral character right now. He is neither good or bad, he'll kind of just do his own thing. The reason that Kevin can control his mutated form now, is because he absorbed the rest of the energy he needed from the Omnitrix. Did everyone like the dialogue from Ben at the end, as well as Gwen waking up like that?

Anyone asking why Ben's natural eye color is hazel, opposed to emerald green? Well, I know that's how it is in the original series. Well, I wanted to change yet another thing in this version, so he has hazel eyes instead of green. His eyes will only become green when he's under stress or enraged. His eyes will then glow green to express his rage. So, please don't forget to favorite and follow the story if you are enjoying it. Reviews are welcome. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.


	33. Chapter 33: Ghostbusters: Part One

Chapter 33: Ghostbusters: Part 1

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty three! So after the insensity that was the last chapter, we're finally back on track. In this chapter we have a look at the "whole new world" that Ben referred to in the last chapter. Ghostfreak will make a return in this arc, but who says that it will end well for him? The relationship between Ben and Gwen will grow in this chapter, thank God. I can't be the only one who thought that their relationship was deteriorating. But then again, I am the writer, so... Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _A Couple Days Later_

Standing in my room, I put my belt on, followed by the alien watch. I switched it to it's camo setting, making it look like an actual wrist watch. I heard thumping on the walls down the hallway, as I looked to my open bedroom door.

"Gwen!" I called.

"What?" she called back from her room. "Julie said that the stitches should be able to come out soon!"

"You're gonna have to come in here! I can't hear you!" I exclaimed.

A few seconds later, Gwen was standing in my doorway, wearing jeans and a short sleeved shirt, as well as holding the tennis ball that had caused the thumping sounds that I heard.

"What?" she asked. "Julie said that the-"

"Stitches should be able to come out soon." I finished her sentence.

"You heard me." Gwen said, as she smirked.

"Yep." I said, as I looked back at the reflection in my phone screen, combing my un kept hair.

"What's up with you? Have a hot date?" Gwen asked.

"I wish." I said, as I continued combing my hair. "After being by your side the whole time you were bedridden, I'd like to look presentable if I have to go anywhere."

I placed my comb down on my night stand and looked Gwen, with her bandaged forehead.

"We should check your bandage." I said, as I followed her out of my room and into the living room.

"No. I already checked." Gwen said, shaking her head from in front of me.

She tossed the tennis ball behind me, to which I caught it in my right hand.

"Besides, I'm going to Julie's today so she can check on me anyway."

"I'll go with you." I said.

"No. I don't want you to go with me." Gwen said.

"Gwen. I thought that we were good?" I asked.

Gwen turned around, smiling at me.

"We are. But it'll be a while before I trust you again." she said.

"Trust has something to do with me wanting to know that you're okay?" I asked.

"No. I'm - I -" Gwen let out a sigh as she tried to speak. "Look, I just don't want you to come along, okay? I just want you to respect my wishes."

"I do. I always will." I said, slightly lying about that claim.

"Good. Well, I'm going. Don't wait up." Gwen said, before kissing me on the cheek.

Before she could open the front door, I grabbed her forearm, stopping her. She turned around to look at me, giving me a disappointed look.

"Benjamin Tennyson, we've been over this." she said, as tried to pull away from my grip, but I had a tight grip on her.

"You have to swear!" I exclaimed with worry.

"What?" she asked, sounding confused.

"You have to swear to me! Swear to me that you won't try to be Lucky Girl today!" I exclaimed.

"Oh my God." she said, as she rolled her eyes. "Ben, I don't even have my costume! I couldn't even if I wanted to!"

"Swear!" I said, as I forced her into a hug.

"Okay, okay! I swear!" Gwen exclaimed, as I hugged her tightly.

"I almost lost you." I whispered into her ear, as the urge to cry came to me. "I almost lost you. I can't do it again."

"Jesus Christ! Ben, we have to have a talk when I get back!" she exclaimed.

She pulled away from the hug and walked out the front door without saying anything else to me.

"What are you doing on my lawn? Creep!" Gwen exclaimed, as she walked out to her car.

I stepped outside, to watch her as she went. Albedo stepped up to the patio, as he bit into an apple.

"And there goes the great Gwen Tennyson." he said.

"You said it." I replied, waving at her, as her car pulled out of the driveway. "When did you get here?"

"Just now." he said, as he took another bite out of his apple. "You know it took a lot of convincing from us for her to see that you and I were cool after I tried to steal your life? I'm surprised she hasn't figured out that you're Alien Guy yet. Speaking of that, have you told her?"

"No. That's for another day. I'm just glad that she's okay after what happened with Ghostfreak." I said. "I still can't believe all that happened that night. It was crazy. I almost went off of the deep end."

"Did you ever find Kevin? Or any of the members of Ghostfreak's disbanded team?" he asked.

"No. Kevin and all of them are still missing. Well, I haven't even tried looking. I've been busy looking after Gwen." I said. "She kissed me on the cheek this morning, you know that?"

"Really?" he asked, biting his apple again.

"Yeah. She said that she would return my affections to a certain degree, with like forehead and cheeky kisses. I don't understand Gwen sometimes." I said.

"I don't understand Gwen _ever_!" Albedo said, with a grin on his face as he tossed his apple core into the garbage bin.

"Join the friggin' club." I said, as I gave him a fist bump.

"Come on, let's go play some Sumo Slammers!" Albedo said, clapping his hand on my shoulder, before entering the house.

"Yeah, I'll be right in Al." I said, standing outside for a few more seconds.

 _Why did I just call him Al?_

I just shook my head and stepped into the house, closing my door behind me.

 _Two Nights Ago_

I saw Gwen's eyelids begin to flutter open.

"Gwen?" I asked in a tearful voice.

Gwen slowly sat up, grunting in pain as she put her hand on her forehead.

"Ben? Where am I?" she asked, as she continued to grunt in pain.

I put my other hand on hers, tightly holding her hand.

"You're okay Gwen. You're at home, in bed." I said, as I rubbed her hand. "Do you remember anything? Anything at all?"

Gwen furrowed her eyebrows and closed her eyes again.

"Um, all I remember is hanging out with Alien Guy and that's it. My mind is blank." Gwen said. "What happened to me? My is forehead bandaged? Why is your hand bandaged?"

"Okay, slow down. I'll answer one question at a time. You had an accident." I said.

"What kind of accident?" Gwen asked, as she opened her eyes again.

"When you were out on patrol with Alien Guy, you guys ran into a very bad group. The leader of the group was going to force Alien Guy to watch as they beat all of their hostages to death and they started with you." I said.

"What did they do to me? And how did you know what happened?" she asked. "I can almost guarantee that you weren't there."

 _Wrong again. I witnessed the whole thing, and I think that I will be permanently be traumatized by it._

"Alien Guy told me. You were hit on the head once and passed out from the hit. You lost quite the amount of blood. We took you to the lady that patched him up when he was shot. And then he just left." I said.

Gwen's eyes widened.

"No. Please don't tell me that y-" Gwen began to speak, but I interrupted her by getting up and walking over to where I had put her costume down.

"Oh and while we're on that topic, when were you planning on telling me about this bag of tricks?" I asked, as I lifted up her leather costume for her to see it.

"Oh. You know?" Gwen asked in a nervous tone.

"Fuck yeah, I know!" I said in a hushed voice. "When did you plan on telling me?"

"Um, never?" Gwen asked in a quizzical tone.

"Never? Seriously Gwen? You were never going to tell me?" I asked. "Why would you do that? To me, of all people?"

Gwen looked down with shame, before speaking.

"Because I didn't want you to be jealous." she whispered just loud enough for me to hear.

"Jealous of what?" I asked, not angry, but curious.

"Ben, I'm in love with Alien Guy. I know you don't want to hear me say that, but it's true." Gwen said. "And face it Ben, you still have romantic feelings for me. I know you do. You were never over me, were you?"

I let out a sigh.

 _She knows me so well._

"Okay, yeah. I am still in love with you. But I'm not jealous." I said.

"I don't believe you." Gwen said.

"Gwen, look. I gave you my blessing to be Alien Guy's girlfriend if he wants you to be. Which, you didn't really need my blessing anyway. I'm not jealous." I said. "And that's because I'm happy for him. He's lucky. He has an amazing, talented, beautiful young woman to work with."

I looked down at my lap and blushed out of shame for what I had said.

"How did you find out that I was Lucky Girl?" Gwen asked me a few seconds later.

I looked back up at her before speaking.

"Alien Guy himself told me, before he left Julie's. That's the name of the lady who stitched both of you up. He told me all about you being Lucky Girl. And the things you've done." I said, as I furrowed my eyebrows. "He told me about that stunt you pulled on that rooftop a few nights ago. Now, I may not be your father, but I am ashamed. The Gwen I know wouldn't have done that."

"So what?!" Gwen exclaimed, looking away from me as she crossed her arms. "At least I'm not the one who ran away from home!"

"Okay, for one, you really have to bring that up? I thought we were past that." I said. "And for two, that is completely off topic, we're looking at what you decided not to tell me."

"We are _soooo_ not past that, Ben. You just got back yesterday." she said, still not looking at me.

"You and I need to work on this whole staying on topic thing." I said, as I narrowed my eyes.

She looked at me, her gaze lightening up a little.

"You're right." she said in a serious tone, before letting out a sigh. "When I looked back on what I did on that rooftop, I was ashamed. I don't know what came over me. It started with a simple kiss, but then I just came on to him. I'm sorry. I really am."

I looked into her eyes and I could tell right away. She was being serious, her apology was sincere.

"See, I think you shouldn't have thrown yourself at him like that. Don't force yourself on him." I said. "If you go slowly and make subtle hints that you care about him, it might work. Wait for him to make the first move. And if he feels the same way about you, than try whatever you want, as long as he wants it as well."

Gwen just looked at me for a few seconds, before giving me a small smile.

"Thanks, Ben. That's actually good advice." Gwen said, continuing to smile at me. "How did you come up with that?"

"You forget I had a girlfriend before you came back into my life." I said, sporting a glum look on my face.

"You want to tell me that full story yet?" Gwen asked.

"No. Not now." I said, as I looked down at the ground.

After a couple more seconds, I looked back up at Gwen, who returned my gaze.

"I'm just glad you're okay." I said, as I leaned forward to kiss her on the forehead.

My lips touched her forehead, my upper lip touching her bandages and the lower half touching the skin of her forehead.

"We need to work on expressing our affection for one another." I said, as I sat back down.

"Ben, I've already told you that I don't love you that way." Gwen replied.

"No, no, no. I didn't mean it like it, even though it probably seemed that way." I said. "What I meant is that all we've done for the past two weeks is mistreat the other person."

"Yeah, so? What's your point?" she asked.

"We call each other best friend, and we should treat each other like best friends. We have to return one another's affections." I said. "Now I know that I am overly affectionate of you, but I am in love with you, you know that. But we need to act like best friends, act like cousins. Share hugs, give each other compliments, whatever gets this unstable relationship back on track, we have to do it."

"It sounds a little crazy to me, but I know that you're right." Gwen said, as she smiled at me.

 _I guess she get's it now._

"Gwen, can I ask you a question?" I asked.

"Sure." she said.

"If it weren't for your love for Alien Guy, would you consider dating me?" I asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows and let out a frustrated sigh. She finally looked back at me, before speaking.

"Yes." she said. "If I weren't in love with Alien Guy, I would probably want to be your girlfriend."

My jaw dropped out of shock, which caused Gwen to grin. She had basically just told me that she returned the affections I had for her!

"Ben, it's just so unclear to me. You are so handsome, so intelligent," she said, putting her hand on my cheek. "And yet, you don't have a girlfriend. I don't get it. You have all of these killer qualities and no one wants to date you."

I just stared at her, and was tempted to take hold of her hand, but I didn't.

"But now, you have to understand something." Gwen said.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"I'm Alien Guy's partner in training." Gwen said. "And I'm not going to be around as much anymore. So, we might not see each other as much as we did before."

"I understand." I said, as I lowered my head, looking at the floor.

"So, what now?" Gwen asked.

"You're going back to sleep. You probably should." I said.

"Okay. What about you?" she asked.

"Gwen, I'm not going anywhere until you can get out of bed without feeling dizzy." I said. "Even if I fall asleep, so be it."

"I can share the bed with you. It's big enough for you to sleep on one side and I on the other." she said.

"No, that's okay." I said.

"Ben, I insist. If you fall asleep still in that chair and lying your head on the bed, your back won't thank you in the morning." she said.

"I'm fine." I said in a firm tone.

"Get in the damn bed, Tennyson!" she exclaimed.

 _Rule one of life? Never piss off your love interest._

"Alright, alright." I said, as I got up out of the chair, turning off her bedroom light as she scooted over, getting as close to the wall as she could. "There's no arguing with you is there?"

"Nope." she said, as she laid back down on her side of her bed.

About ten minutes later, I was pretty sure that Gwen was asleep. But as for me? I don't think I was getting any sleep tonight. My mind was racing, going back to the events of earlier tonight with Ghostfreak. I felt Gwen roll over in her bed, facing me. I hadn't even bothered to get under the covers.

I didn't see getting under the covers as being worth it, as I didn't think I'd be getting any sleep tonight.

 _She's just shifting in her sleep, no biggie._

"Ben?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

I turned my head to look at her, barely seeing her face in the dark.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"I'm going to make you scream with only two fingers." she mumbled.

 _What the hell? Is she actually still asleep right now?_

I got my answer a few seconds later, when she sat up and poked me in the eyes with two of her fingers.

"Ow! What the hell?!" I hissed, as I sat up, holding my hands over my eyes.

Gwen chuckled, as I held my eyes in pain.

"Why did you do that?!" I exclaimed.

"Because I wanted to." Gwen said, as she giggled.

 _This new showing affection rule we endorsed is going great! Oh, she's either going to be my worst enemy or my soul mate, that's for sure._

"Go to sleep!" I said, as I laid my head back down on one of her pillows.

"I could say the same to you!" Gwen whispered, as she laid back down.

Minutes later, I was sure she was asleep this time, and I was back staring up at the ceiling. Eventually, a couple of minutes later, I drifted off to sleep.

 _Present Day_

Albedo and I were playing Sumo Slammers in the basement for about an hour, when all of a sudden, the power went out.

"Um, dude?" Albedo asked, as he dropped his controller.

Just then, I heard a cackling sound and I knew what was up. Ghostfreak materialized out of nowhere.

"Nice place you got here!" he said, as he floated around the room.

"Get out!" I exclaimed, as I got up to face Ghostfreak. "Get out of my house!"

"Careful how you're talking to me, Ben." Ghostfreak said. "You don't want to make me mad."

I just stared up at him, glaring.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"It's time to finish what you started. But not here." Ghostfreak said.

"Name the time and place. I'll be there." I said, through gritted teeth.

"I love how eager you are, I really do." Ghostfreak replied, as he chuckled. "Too bad you won't survive."

The intensity of my gaze increased.

"Well anyone, to business, of course!" he exclaimed. "You will meet me at your high school football field tonight, at ten."

"I'll be there." I hissed at him in a whisper.

"So will I!" Albedo said, getting up and standing by my side.

Ghostfreak pointed at Albedo, with a confused look on his face.

"Who are you?" he asked, before looking back at me. "No. You will come alone. If you seriously don't want anyone getting hurt, you'll listen to me."

"Okay. I'll come alone. I promise." I said, with my fingers crossed behind my back.

"I know you will." Ghostfreak said. "Come alone. Don't make me have to take hostages this time."

And with that, he was gone. A few seconds after he disappeared, the power came back on.

"So, what's the plan?" Albedo asked. "We gonna bring Gwen back into the mix and kick some ghost butt?"

"No. You heard him. I have to do this alone." I said.

"You can't possibly be serious." Albedo said.

"Do I look serious?" I asked, as I gave him a serious look.

Albedo let out a sigh.

"Well, how are you going to do it? You can't fight that thing alone!" Albedo said.

"I'm not going to fight him. I'm going to lead him into a trap." I said. "I've never seen Ghostfreak in the light, except for torchlight. Unluckily for him, the football field has those big lights that illuminate the field at night. I'm going to tell Gwen that Alien Guy asked for some of her assistance and her rig the lighting system, so I can fry Ghostfreak tonight."

"That's not a bad idea." Albedo said. "But what now?"

"I suggest you go home." I said. "It could be a little awkward explaining all of this to Gwen if you're still here."

"But, I don't have a home!" Albedo exclaimed. "Can't I live here with you guys?"

"Maybe if Gwen knew that I was Alien Guy." I said.

"Jesus Christ, when are you going to get on with that?" he asked.

"The lady who patched us up, Julie told me that there are multiple ways to steal a girl's heart." I said. "Right now, I'm just trying to figure out which way will work for me."

"Well, take all the time you need. Until you do figure it out, I'm out of here." Albedo said, as he walked to the stairs. "See ya later."

"Yeah, okay." I said, as he left me by myself in the basement.

 _Two Nights Ago_

I was sitting on my knees, back in that grassy park area, with Ghostfreak in front of me. I looked behind me, looking at all of my dead family members. All of them had crushed skulls. I was the only one of his hostages that was still breathing.

I looked up at Ghostfreak, tears running down my cheeks.

"Just let me go. I've learned my lesson!" I've exclaimed.

"No." Ghostfreak said, as his talons extended. "You have to pay the bill!"

Ghostfreak charged towards me, ready to stab me with his talons.

"Ahh!" I let out a scream of fear, as my eyes popped open.

It felt like my heart was pounding a thousand miles per minute and my shirt was thoroughly soaked in my sweat. And my face was sweaty as well.

 _Oh my God. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real this time._

I heard Gwen let out a groan as she slept. I turned my head to my right, to see her rolled over onto her side, facing me, fast asleep. I let out a sigh as I sat up, unable to sleep after that nightmare. I slowly and quietly got off of the bed. I had to change out of this shirt.

After changing my shirt and splashing my face with cold water, I returned to bed. Gwen was still in the same sleeping position when I laid back down. I looked at her peaceful sleeping form and rolled my eyes.

 _Well, at least someone is having a good night's sleep._

 _Present Day_

"So let me get this straight," Gwen said, as she put her fingers against her temples. "you're telling me that Alien Guy contacted you and told you to ask me for his help? Tell me why I am supposed to believe you?"

"Okay. I guess I forgot that I mentioned Alien Guy and I decided to work together again, for your safety." I said, with a sheepish look on my face.

"I don't believe you." Gwen said.

"Gwen, look. We're working together for you. Alien Guy wants to makes sure that you stay safe." I said, as I let out a sigh, before finishing my sentence. "Gwen, I want you to stay safe _and_ be happy. That's why I'm working with him again. I'd rather you be safe and alive, than be not be safe, as well as being dead. I don't mind if you enter a romantic relationship with him, as long as you're happy."

I took a deep breath, before continuing.

"If it makes you happy, than go for it. You two will be together and what will I be?" I asked. "I'll be the third wheel. But, that's okay! It won't be the first time it's happened."

"Ben..." Gwen whispered.

"Don't. Don't say anything. It doesn't help." I said.

Gwen bit her lip, before speaking again.

"What does he want my help with?" she asked.

"He wants you to rig the lights down at my high school's football field. He's meeting one of his villains tonight there." I said. "He'll give you a signal to let you know when to turn the light on."

"He doesn't want me on the battlefield? No way! I'm getting my costume or I'm not doing this at all!" she said.

I turned around, grabbing her wrist in a firm grip, earning a glare out of her.

"Normally, I would back you up on that decision, but he doesn't want you on the battlefield." I said. "This is Ghostfreak we're talking about, Gwen. He's the villain that Alien Guy is meeting, and he's the alien that almost succeeded in killing you."

"Ben, what happened to you wanting to hold my hand as we walk through this brand new world?" she asked.

My eyes widened out of shock.

"You heard that?" I asked in a surprised tone.

"Yes. I heard every word you said. I was just regaining consciousness." she said.

"Okay, well, what about it?" I asked.

"This new world and weird love hate relationship that we have requires trust. So please, trust me. I can do this." Gwen said, tugging on my hand, trying to get free.

"I can ask the same thing of you. Please cousin, friend, trust _me_." I said. "He and I both agree that you shouldn't be helping him on the battlefield. You should be helping him by rigging the light system. He thinks that Ghostfreak's weakness is light. So, maybe those big lights can put him down for the count. Please, do it for him, but most of all, do it for me! I almost lost you the other night! Please, I don't know if I can do it again!"

Gwen looked at me with a genuine worried look, before gripping my hand.

"Okay, Doofus. For once, I'll do what you say." she replied. "When is he meeting with Ghostfreak?"

"Ten o'clock tonight." I said.

"Ten o'clock? It's seven right now, we only have three hours!" Gwen said, as she ran for the door.

I let out a sigh, as I followed Gwen out to her car.

 _An Hour And A Half Later_

"Hey, I have a question." I asked.

"What?" Gwen said, in an irritated voice, as she rubbed her temples in frustration.

We had been sitting in the sound and lights booth for the past hour and a half. Gwen couldn't seem to figure out how to work the light system the way we wanted to. We were still working at it, but wasn't getting anything.

"Why do we fight all the time? We said, we'd stop and we never did. We're supposed to be best friends, not enemies or something like that." I said.

"Have you ever considered that we can't not fight?" Gwen asked, as she continued fiddling with the controls.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Maybe we _have to_ fight." Gwen said. "Maybe it's the thing that keeps the weird relationship we have healthy. Maybe we can't avoid it."

"I guess that makes sense. Jesus, I mean, we've fought since before we were ten." I said. "And after that fight we had, we didn't see each other for seven years. Even after seven years, I guess the tendency to fight followed us."

Gwen said nothing, as the light we wanted to use came on.

"Got it!" she exclaimed, in a victorious tone.

I said nothing at first.

"Gwen, I just wanted to say that I was sorry." I said, out of the blue.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" she asked.

"I'm sorry for not being the guy that you love. I'm sorry for a lot of things really. But mainly, I'm sorry that I couldn't be the guy you love." I said, as I slowly began to tear up."I-I just tried m-m-my best and it wasn't enough. A-and for that, I'm s-sorry."

As I looked up, my eyes felt like they were going to explode with tears. I was going to start crying any second now. I knew it and hell, even Gwen knew it, from the sympathetic look she was giving me. I couldn't let her see me cry, so I got up from my seat and moved towards the ladder to the sound and lights booth.

"Tell Alien Guy that I said good luck." I said, as I moved down the wooden ladder as quick as I could.

"Ben." she said in a worried tone, but I was already down the ladder.

"See you at home." I said, wiping my eyes as I slowly started walking towards the school.

I slowly walked away from the sound and lights booth, with my hands in my pockets. The sun was close to going down and then it would only be a matter of time before Ghostfreak showed up.

 _I can't believe our parents will be back tomorrow. I'm actually kind of glad about that. But I know I shouldn't be. Maybe once we're no longer living in the same houses, I wan't be so heart broken and lovesick._

I made sure Gwen didn't see where I went and hid behind the bleachers, looking at the high school I go to. Memories flashed through my head. I saw myself being tripped in the halls, being laughed at, getting carrots slingshotted at me at lunch and getting dumped by Kai.

Granted, this was all before I found the alien watch. My life was pretty shitty before I found that watch. In fact, if it weren't for all of the gifts that the watch gave me, I would have flunked my junior year of high school.

That thing saved me overnight, quite literally. In all of the thinking I had been doing, the sun had gone all the way down. I took out my phone, to see it was nearing nine thirty.

 _Damn, I had been thinking for almost an hour!_

I began to think about how I was going to do this. After about ten minutes of thinking, I stood up as I rubbed my hands together.

"Now, the real game begins." I said, as I awaited Ghostfreak's arrival.

A/N: Well, how was this chapter for you guys? I think you can see that the brotherly bond between Ben and Albedo has grown a lot. What did you guys think of the flashbacks that took place after Gwen woke up? Ben's nightmare about how his encounter with Ghostfreak could have gone? I'm thinking about putting in a "next time" section, at the end of every chapter after the author's note.

Would you guys actually want to see that? There might be a origin story arc for this universe's version of Ben coming up, who knows? I can definitely tell you that the next chapter will not be the final confrontation that Ben has with Ghostfreak. Please don't forget to favorite and follow the story if you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to submit your opinion you could review or send me a PM. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye!


	34. Chapter 34: Ghostbusters: Part Two

Chapter 34: Ghostbusters: Part 2

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty four! In this chapter, expect the unexpected I suppose. At the end of this chapter, something happens that a lot of people think should have happened a while ago. So, I don't really want to say anything else that could spoil any surprises, so I hope you enjoy the chapter

 _Ben_

I took a deep breath, waiting for Ghostfreak to show up. I just wanted to get this over with and go home. That's all I wanted.

 _Well, I'll be going home to a talk with Gwen, probably._

I heard someone whistling, and I turned my head out from the bleachers, to see Ghostfreak had arrived.

"Alien Guy, come out, come out, wherever you are!" he exclaimed, in a sing songy tone. "Don't tell me that you decided to back out!"

 _Well, it's now or never._

I dialed up the alien watch and transformed into Diamondhead. I stepped out from the bleachers and walked down to the football field where Ghostfreak was waiting.

"I'm right here, Ghostfreak." I said.

"There was no reason for you to transform. You see, when I meant that we would finish this, you knew I meant that I was going to kill you, right?' he asked.

"You're not going to kill me. You crossed the light two nights ago, Ghostfreak. You have to pay for what you've done." I said in an angry voice. "To me, to Kevin, to Gwen! You manipulated your entire team into trying to kill me!"

"Yes, I suppose. But I was serious in saying that I would kill you." he said, as his talons extended. "Now we just have to wait until you're back in your human form. But, fighting you in that alien form will suffice until then."

But before we could engage in a fight, or before I could catch Gwen's attention, we were interrupted.

"Ghostfreak, I've waited a long time for this." I heard Kevin's voice, to the left of us.

I turned to our left, to see Kevin standing a few feet from us. But something was wrong, Kevin was in his human form!

 _Did he manage to cure himself?!_

"Alien Guy, you naughty boy!" Ghostfreak exclaimed. "I told you to come alone!"

"He didn't invite me. I came on my own accord." he said.

"I don't know why you're here. You're the one who abandoned me first!" Ghostfreak exclaimed.

"I'm not here to help you. He's right. You have to pay." Kevin said. "You tried to manipulate me into killing him, his family and as well as him family!"

I looked at Kevin, as he slowly began to mutate back into his alien form.

"I'm going to kill you." Kevin said, in his deep voice, before lunging at Ghostfreak. "By the time I'm done with you, no one else will suffer because of you."

 _I couldn't let Kevin kill Ghostfreak. We were better than that and if he killed Ghostfreak, he'd be no better than him. Besides, a trap that I rigged will put him down. Should be quick and painless._

I dove towards Kevin, pinning him before he could reach Ghostfreak.

"I can't let you do this!" I exclaimed, as I held him in a choke hold. "I have to stop you, my friend."

"You are demented. Just because I saved you from him doesn't mean that we're still friends!" Kevin exclaimed, as he easily pulled away from my grip. "Since you can't see that I'm doing you a favor, you leave me no choice."

Kevin lunged at me and the fight between us began. He held me into a choke hold against the ground and to get free, I shot him in the face with a diamond shard.

"I'm gonna knock those giant teeth out of your jaw if you don't knock it off!" I exclaimed.

He backed up, letting out a growl of pain as he did. He gave me the evil eye picking me up and throwing me into Ghostfreak.

"Be right with you." Kevin told Ghostfreak said, as he dragged me away from him.

I heard a thunderclap as I kicked away from Kevin, firing diamond shards at him. I ran up to him and began punching him as he recovered.

"Stop being stupid, Kevin!" I exclaimed.

He backed up from me, before speaking.

"Look man, I forgive you for messing me up. In fact, I think I'm better this way!" Kevin exclaimed, pointing at Ghostfreak. "But after what he did to you, why is _he_ still alive?!"

"If we kill him, than we're no better than him!" I exclaimed.

"Says you!" Kevin yelled, as he charged me.

I went into a back flip, firing shards at him the whole way. I ran back up to Kevin and began hitting him, sending him backwards with every strike. Kevin became enraged and charged towards me.

"Sit down, Kevin!" I exclaimed, punching him in the jaw when he got close to me.

After it seemed like I was done with him, I turned around to face Ghostfreak. I was about to approach him, when I heard a roar of fury from behind me. I turned around and punched Kevin in the jaw _so hard_ that he went into a back flip, landing on his stomach seconds later. I walked up to Kevin's unconscious form, as I held my fist.

"Who's the wimp, now?" I asked.

I turned back to Ghostfreak and walked up to him.

"Game over, man! Game over!" Ghostfreak said, as he swiped my face with his talons.

"Yeah, I was going to say the same thing about _you_." I said, as I frowned at him. "You're going to die tonight, Ghostfreak."

"Are _you_ going to kill me?" he asked, with a confused look in his eye.

"I hope not." I said. "I don't want to have to cross that line yet."

"Well, than who is going to kill me, Alien Guy?!" Ghostfreak exclaimed. "Because your friend over there sure as hell ain't gonna do it!"

I looked behind me, to see that Kevin was gone. I looked back at Ghostfreak, a scowl growing on my face. He came closer so he could whisper to me.

"I'm being serious, Ben." he whispered. "Who ya gonna call? There ain't no one here now, but us."

I cracked up laughing, much to Ghostfreak's surprise.

"Oh, oh. Okay. Hold on." I said, laughing still. "What did you say? Seriously, what was that?"

"I asked who you were gonna call." Ghostfreak asked, obviously confused.

"Oh, see, that's what I thought you said. In that case, can you say that again?" I asked.

Ghostfreak let out a sigh of frustration.

"Who ya gonna call?" he repeated.

"Ghostbusters!" I exclaimed, before giving the signal. "Now, Gwen!"

The chosen light turned on, trapping Ghostfreak in a huge radius of light. He let out screams of pain, as he looked like he began to burn alive.

"What's the matter, Ghostfreak?!" I exclaimed. "Is the light burning your putrid skin?! Oh, I forgot, you don't have skin!"

"Y-you tricked me!" he exclaimed, as he continued burning.

His body seemed to stretch and rip apart, before he began turning to ash.

"This isn't over!" Ghostfreak exclaimed, as he completely disintegrated into ash.

"No, it pretty much is." I said, as I walked up to what was left of him. Only the front of his skull was left behind.

"You once said: 'The problem with a ghost, is that you can't kill one'. Well, I think I just killed one."

"Alien Guy!" I heard Gwen exclaimed from behind me.

The light turned off and a few moments later, I could see Gwen jogging over to me.

"That was great!" she exclaimed, high fiving me. "When you referenced Ghostbusters before giving me the signal, that was amazing! God, why aren't more people fans of you?"

I just chuckled, as it thundered above us.

"Where did Kevin go?" she asked.

"Who knows?" I asked, as I shrugged my shoulders.

It thundered even louder and slowly, it started to rain. Gwen looked up at sky, as it slowly began to rain harder.

"It's over. It's finally over." I said, as I looked at Ghostfreak's ashes.

"So, what now?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know. He was the creepiest villain I've ever faced." I said. "But you should go home. We both should get home. Oh, I haven't slept in days. Now I'll be able to sleep without having nightmares about him."

"What about you? Where do you call home?" she asked.

I was about to say something, when the watch began to time out. It suddenly occurred to me, that I wasn't wearing my costume tonight.

 _Oh, shit._

I let out a sigh, as I looked at Gwen, who gave me a confused look. There was no where to run this time. I mentally prepared myself for what was about to happen. It began to rain harder and then the watch timed out.

I took a deep breath, as Gwen squinted at me, in the dim light. She finally opened her mouth to speak.

"Ben?" she asked, as she stepped closer.

"Hey, uh, Gwen." I said, in a nervous tone, as I chuckled nervously.

She put her hand on my cheek, as I saw the look in her eyes. It wasn't disgust, or fear, or anything like that. I couldn't tell what it was.

"Gwen, I know I should have told you earlier. Believe, me I tried!" I exclaimed, as it began to rain harder. "But, you never believed me! I just hope this doesn't make the weird relationship that we have even more weird! I'm sorry that I didn't tell you s-"

It caught me completely off guard when Gwen locked lips with me. There were fireworks going off in my head. Gwen, my cousin, as well as the girl of my dreams, was kissing me. She wasn't kissing Alien Guy, she was kissing _me_. She was kissing me.

 _Holy shit! She's kissing me! Is this real? Please tell me I'm not dreaming!_

I decided to test the waters a little, and to do that, I slowly wrapped my arms around Gwen's waist. I guess she took that as an invitation, as then, she put her arms around my neck.

We stood there for several more seconds, making out in the rain. It was like a dream come true. _Finally._

A/N: It's finally happened, after thirty three chapters, it's finally happened. I bet all of the Bwen fans who were impatient, if there were any, are satisfied now. So, what do you guys think of how Kevin interrupted Ben and Ghostfreak's "talk"? Did anyone like how Ben referenced Ghostbusters? Just because Ghostfreak got killed off doesn't mean he's gone from the story forever. So, yeah. You can expect that Gwen and Ben are finally a couple. We'll be seeing a lot of Bwen fluffiness in the coming chapters. Did I seriously just say fluffiness? Yes. Yes, I did.

So, I hope you guys enjoyed this highly anticipated chapter! I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.


	35. Chapter 35: Origins: Part One

Chapter 35: Origins: Part 1

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty five! So, Ben and Gwen can now be considered a couple. Bad news, though. Ben and Gwen's parents are returning from their vacation today. Or are they? Anyway, in this chapter, Gwen will request that Ben tell her a story in this chapter. Maybe the story arc title is a subtle hint, to that? Also, most of the italics in flashbacks are to represent Ben narrating the story he's telling Gwen. Well, anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Let's get on with it!

 _Ben_

 _The Next Morning._

I was sleeping on my stomach, in bed, when I heard my phone begin to ring on the nightstand next to me. I reached for it, with my eyes closed and grabbed it, answering the call.

"Ben Tennyson, please leave a message." I said in a groggy voice.

"Greetings from Hawaii, Ben!" my father's voice from the other end exclaimed.

I sprang up in the bed when my father said that.

"Wait, dad. Did you just say Hawaii?" I asked. "I thought you guys were coming back today?"

"Yep! We're in Hawaii!" my father said. "We weren't going to come back from Vegas, son. We're spending the whole summer traveling around the states. We won't be back until late August. We wanted to give you and Gwen as much time as possible to catch up, so that's why we're not coming home yet."

"Seriously, you guys won't be back until late August?" I asked, as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"Yep, you guys have fun! Talk to you later!" my father said.

"Wait, dad! Don't-" I was cut off when my father hung up.

I let out a sigh of defeat, as I laid back down, putting my phone back on the nightstand. After a few seconds, I felt Gwen's hand on my bare chest.

"Mmm. Good morning." she whispered, as she moved up on top of me, resting her head on my chest.

"Good morning, Pretty Lady." I whispered back, as I hugged her to my chest.

After we shared that kiss on the football field last night, after my identity was revealed to Gwen, she surprised me with a kiss. The kiss was genuine. After we kissed, for whatever reason, we stayed there in the rain, as Gwen slowly came to terms with the fact that I was Alien Guy.

It finally hit her. She actually asked me how it wasn't obvious to her. I told her that I had tried to tell her multiple times and she apologized for never believing me. I asked what was next for us and she smirked, before asking me if I still wanted a relationship with her.

I just stared at her in awe, as she smirked back at me. Then, I asked her if she wanted a relationship with me, and not just Alien Guy. Smirking and rolling her eyes, she answered my question by kissing me again. It only then dawned on us that we were standing out in the rain. We both agreed that unless we wanted to catch a cold, we should head home and change into some warmer clothes.

I remember when we got home, after we had changed, me into just a pair of pajama pants and socks and Gwen wearing pajama pants, socks and as well as a sports bra, I asked if I could sleep in the same bed as her. Giving me a smirk, she asked if I even had to ask.

I took that as an immediate yes. And that brings us around full circle. Gwen nuzzled her head against my bare chest, as she kept her arms around me.

"Did you hear my phone call with my dad?" I asked.

"No, what did he say?" she asked.

"They're in Hawaii." I said. "They're going to travel around the states for the whole summer. They won't be back until late August."

"Seriously?" Gwen asked. "Wow, that's cool. We should probably get up and eat breakfast."

"But all I want to do is lie here." I said.

"I know, isn't it great?" Gwen asked, as she tightened the hug we were sharing.

"What would your mom say if she heard you say that?" I asked, as she got up, so we could look each other in the eyes.

"She would be disappointed in me. Ken and I were always the smarter ones in the family. And my mother expects us to keep that title." she said. "She'd expect me to be out of bed my seven every morning, even in the summers. All my life, I've been accustomed to getting up early, getting good grades and hopefully, becoming a doctor or lawyer when I'm done with school."

"And yet, you're going to be going to school with me in the fall." I said.

"That's why I'm going to go to school with you. On top of just wanting to see you everyday, I wanted to stop living in the fast lane. It was annoying, when things happened faster than you could comprehend them." she said.

"Tell me about." I said, rolling my eyes.

We sat there in silence for a few more seconds, before she spoke.

"Ben, tell me a story." she said.

"What story? I don't really know a story." I said.

Gwen put her hand on the alien watch.

"Tell me how you found that thing." she said.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "That is a very long story to tell."

"We have all day, don't we?" Gwen answered my question with another question.

"Suit yourself. Can you get off of me for a second?" I asked.

Gwen rolled off of me and back to her side of the bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked, as I got up off of the bed.

I opened the shoe box full of pictures that she had taken of me while I was in my Alien Guy form. I grabbed two random ones, of Diamondhead fighting a group of thugs and the picture that she had taken of me that day, right after Heatblast accidentally burned down the apartment building.

With the pictures in my hand, I sat back down on the bed with her.

"This is where it all began." I said, as I pointed at the alien watch, putting down the pictures on the bed. "Which, of course, led to nonsense like this."

"And that." I added, gently touching the scar on her forehead.

 _Half A Year Ago_

 _November_

I stood in the bathroom, trying to get the tie on my white dress shirt just right. Tonight was the night. The night of the Madison High School Pre-Thanksgiving Break Dance. Yes, that was a mouthful.

It was a Madison High School tradition, to have a dance the night before the last day of school, before we leave for Thanksgiving Break. I was going to meet my girlfriend, Kai Green, at the dance.

"You look great, honey." my mother next to me said, kissing me on the cheek.

"Mom!" I exclaimed, letting out a groan of embarrassment.

"Oh, you're fine! Kai will be so impressed with how handsome you look!" my mother said, as I left the bathroom, finally getting my tie the way I wanted it.

"Dad!" I called. "I need Kai's favorite flowers!"

"Yep! Got 'em right here, champ!" my dad said, as he appeared in the hallway, handing me roses, Kai's favorite type of flowers.

"Thanks, Dad!" I exclaimed, as I took them from his hand.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"That's Kevin!" I exclaimed, as I ran to the door. "Gotta go, see you guys later!"

I opened the door, to see Kevin standing there, wearing an old looking tux.

"Hey, bro!" I exclaimed, as I gave him a fist bump with my free hand.

Hey." he said, with a grin on his face. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson!"

"Have fun, boys! Tell Kai that we said hi, Ben!" my mom called, as we walked out the door.

"We will!" I said, as I closed the door behind us. "Dude, that tux looks ancient. Where'd you get it?"

"Hand-me-down. From my stepfather." he said, as we walked in silence for most of the rest of the way to the school.

It was only a short distance from the suburbs that I lived in to the school that I went to.

 _And so we were off. I was excited to see Kai that night. I was stupid. Good things rarely happen to me. And when they do, it doesn't take long for bad luck to fall into my path._

"You should come to the fight clubs." Kevin said next to me, as he elbowed me.

Don't even ask. Kevin was one of the leaders of the school's "underground fight clubs". Ever since he and a few others opened them in our freshman year, he had practically been begging me to join, probably just to see me get my ass kicked.

"Nope. Not gonna happen." I said.

"What? Why not?" Kevin asked, as if I were telling him for the first time.

"Because, I'm scrawny. These muscles, which are hardly existent, aren't meant to fight." I said, as we continued walking.

We were silent for the rest of the walk to the school dance. Once we got there, surprisingly Kai wasn't waiting for me at the front doors. Kevin's date, believe it or not, a senior cheerleader was already there, waiting for him.

"Wha- Where's Kai at?" Kevin asked me.

"I don't know." I said. "Look, I'm gonna head in and see if I can't find her. I'll see you guys in a little bit."

I walked into the school, after handing the usher my ticket and headed down to the cafeteria, where the dance was going on. I looked and looked and looked. And after fifteen minutes of waiting, I came to terms with the realization that I just saw.

I was sitting outside the cafeteria, against the lockers, glumly holding the bouquet of flowers that would probably never be delivered. Kai had stood me up. I couldn't find her anywhere. If she wasn't here, there was no point in hanging around here.

I got up and headed upstairs, for the main exit. The usher was gone at this point, so I just walked out the front doors, throwing the bouquet of roses into the trashbin on my way out. I pushed my hands deep down into the pockets of my black dress pants as I walked all the way home.

It took maybe ten minutes to get home. Once getting home, I opened the door and slammed it behind me, walking to my room, right past my parents who sat on the couch, having witnessed the whole thing.

I walked into my room and slammed _that door_ behind me. I practically ripped the suit coat off, followed by my tie. I sat down on the floor, with my back against my bed. My door opened and my father stepped into the room.

"Ben? I thought you went to the dance?" he asked.

"Kai stood me up." I said.

"Oh, um-" my father began to speak, but I cut him off.

"Yeah, she didn't even show up." I said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No. Just leave me alone." I said, as I stared at the ground.

He stepped further into the room, before speaking again.

"Ben-" he began to speak, but I interrupted.

"Get out of my room! Leave me alone!" I screamed, looking up at him, tears streaming from my eyes.

After a few seconds of standing there, he left, closing the door behind him.

 _Present Day_

"She stood you up?" Gwen asked. "Why would she do that? When did she dump you?"

"She was, well- Just keep listening to the story. Telling this story is hard as it is." I said, as Gwen crossed her legs where she was sitting across from me on the bed.

She nodded, signaling for me to go on.

 _Last November_

 _The next day, I went to school, much to my disliking, but my mom said I had to go. It was raining that day, which I thought was a little new for a mid-November's morning. Anyway, I got to school and everything was fine, until I was on my way to my second class of the day._

I was walking through the hall, still not over what had happened yesterday, when out of nowhere, I was tripped. As I fell, my binder fell out of my hands, along with any papers I had on top of the binder went flying. I was forced to stick out my hands to break my fall. Once I had landed and was getting back up, I heard two guys laughing their asses off.

"Oops, our bad!" a friend of mine, J.T. said, as he chuckled with our other friend, Cash.

"You guys are dicks!" I exclaimed, not caring if any teachers heard. "If you're supposed to be my friends, why'd you trip me?!"

"What can we say? It's funny!" Cash said, laughing as they walked off. "We'd stay and help you pick up, but we have to get to class."

"Where do you think I need to be?!" I exclaimed, as they walked away.

They didn't answer.

 _Okay, I lied. J.T. and Cash weren't really my friends yet. They were more like acquaintances right now._

I let out a sigh, only having two minutes to get across the school to my Algebra-II class. As I was kneeling on the floor gathering my stuff, I was violently pulled up and then thrown against the set of lockers lining the wall. When I recovered, I looked up and was shocked to see that my attacker was my best friend since second grade, Kevin!

"Kevin, what the hell?" I asked.

"That's for abandoning Sally and I at the dance last night! We were supposed to go to Mr. Smoothie after the dance, but you never showed!" he exclaimed. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

I ignored him and got back down to the floor, to continue gathering my things.

"Hey, nimrod! I'm talking to you!" Kevin exclaimed, as he kicked me in my side.

After collecting all of my things, I got up and gave Kevin an angry look.

"Some friend you are!" I said, as I pushed past him.

I started sprinting, only having a minute or less to get to class. Unfortunately, we had the same class next. So he was trailing me the whole way there. We were sitting next to each other, working on the last assignment before break, when he began antagonizing me. He stomped on my foot, which broke my concentration.

I sneered, as I looked at him.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Why don't you tell me why you just left last night?" he asked, stomping on my foot harder.

"Okay, four things, Kevin. One, you weren't stood up last night. Two, shut the fuck up. Three, shut up about it. And four leave me the hell one!" I whispered, saying the last thing a little louder than intended.

"Is there a problem over there, boys?" our teacher asked.

I looked back down at the paper, trying to focus. Kevin didn't say anything, but gathered all of his things and got up.

"You don't have to be such a jerk about it." he said, before walking to an empty table.

"Oh, I'm the jerk? You're the one who was beating up on me earlier." I whispered under my breath, as I went back to my assignment.

Lunch eventually rolled around, with me being to glum to eat. I was just sitting there, when out of nowhere, I was hit in the face with a carrot.

"Agh!" I let out a grunt of pain, as I rubbed the new red mark on my face.

I looked across the cafeteria, to see Kevin, who was holding a slingshot. It looked like he was laughing, along with J.T. and Cash, who looked like they were laughing too.

"What did he shoot me with?" I asked myself, as I looked around, eventually finding a chunk of carrot on the ground. "A carrot? Really?"

I stared down at my tray, which was full of Thanksgiving themed foods. It was Thanksgiving Food Day in the cafeteria and they tried. Too hard. We had turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, a roll and some kind of pumpkin pudding instead of the traditional pumpkin pie.

But I wasn't hungry. I was about to try to eat some of the pudding, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kai, leaving the cafeteria. I scrambled out of my seat and went to catch up with her. I finally found her out in the scramble area, with all of the vending machines and another lunch line that was full of, at least in my opinion, over priced snacks.

I walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, saw me and a disappointed look came onto her face.

"Oh, great." she said, just loud enough for me to hear.

"Kai, what was that last night? You stood me up!" I exclaimed.

"Um, no. I didn't." she said.

"Yes, you did!" I said.

"Oh, um, awkward. You didn't get my text, did you?" she asked.

That's when it hit me. I had gotten a text last night when I was getting ready, but I hadn't bothered to look at it. I took out my phone and opened my text messages. After reading the message from her, I looked back at her, my hazel eyes glistening.

"But, why?" I asked.

"I didn't want to tell you up front, but I guess I don't have a choice. Whatever fire there was in our relationship, it's not there anymore." she said, before looking me dead in the eyes. "Ben, I needed someone else. So, I did what was necessary. Ben, I've been cheating on you for the past couple weeks."

I just stared at her in awe and disbelief, my jaw hanging open.

"Look, I'd say that I'm sorry that you didn't get my message, but I'm not sorry." she said.

"Tell me what I can do. We can work t-" I was speaking, but Kai interrupted me.

"No, we can't." she said, as she chuckled. "You just wish that you were him."

"Can we at least still be friends?" I asked.

"Um, no." Kai said, with a sick look on her face. "Can you imagine still being friends with the girl who dumped you? Ugh, awkward."

I just stood there, still not fully comprehending what had just happened.

"We shouldn't still be friends, Ben." Kai said, as she walked forwards, away from me. "Leave me alone. And don't come looking for me. Good bye, Ben. I hope the future is kind to you."

I just continued standing there, long after Kai had left me. I eventually ended up in the restroom, crying over the sink. I heard someone come in and I tried to stop crying.

"Ben?" I heard Kevin ask. "Bro? Are you okay?"

I turned around, as I wiped the tears from my cheeks.

"I wasn't just stood up." I said, as I looked at him. "She broke up with me. She had been cheating on me for weeks!"

Kevin's face went pale.

"Oh, jeez, man. I'm sorry. I really am." he said.

"Sorry?" I asked, as I continued to wipe my cheeks. "You're not sorry! You've been a dick to me all day. So, don't you fucking dare tell me that you're sorry!"

I pushed past him and walked out of the bathroom.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Kevin asked.

"I'm going home." I said.

"But we have an assembly after lunch before school let's out. You can't go home!" he said.

I turned around to look at him.

"I don't give a fuck." I said, as I looked around to make sure there weren't any teachers around.

I looked back at him.

"Fuck this place, fuck Kai and most of all, fuck you!" I said in anger. "You are a pathetic excuse for a friend! You knew that there was something wrong, and you didn't even bother to ask! All you did was push me, kick me, stomp on my foot, yell at me and hit me with carrots!"

Before he could say anything else, I ran from the scramble area and to the nearest exit.

 _Present Day_

"You actually left the school?" Gwen asked.

I nodded.

"And she cheated on you?!" she asked.

I nodded, with a glum look on my face.

"Wow, she sounds like a bitch." Gwen said.

"Easy. She may deserve the name calling, but it's rude." I said.

"True." Gwen said. "Please, continue."

 _Last November_

 _It was that fateful night. That fateful Thanksgiving night where I would find that alien watch out in the woods behind my house. Most of our family members had gathered at our house. Well, except for you and your parents._

I was lying on my bed in my room. It was five thirty in the afternoon and it was just beginning to enter twilight. My father had come in and told me that dinner was ready, but I told him that I didn't have an appetite. After minutes of laying there, I got the urge to go for a walk to try and clear my head.

So, I got off of my bed and left my room. I walked into the dining room, to see everyone sitting at the table.

"Ben! You decided to come out and join us a-" my father began to speak, but I cut him off.

"No. I'm going for a walk. I need to clear my head." I said, as I walked towards the back door in the kitchen.

"Ben, you should really-" my mom began to speak, but as well as my dad, I cut her off.

"Don't." I said. "I just want to be left alone." I said, as I opened the door and left the house.

There was a gate on our back fence that led to a dirt path, that led into the woods. I opened the gate and closed it behind me, walking down the path into the woods. I walked around the woods for a good twenty minutes and was heading back, when down one of the paths, I saw a faint, orange glow.

I cautiously walked towards the glow, thinking that it was a campfire at first. I walked deeper into the area, but saw no campfire, but a crater rather, with flames around one end of the crater.

There was a pod of some sort in the crater. I walked closer to the pod and heard a hiss. I was about to run, when I realized that the hissing sound came from the pod itself. Whatever the metal pod was made of had a door and it had just opened.

It revealed a much smaller pod in it, which was already open. There was some kind of watch inside, with a black and white color scheme to it. I slid down into the crater and slowly approached the pod.

"What the hell is that?" I asked.

I looked around, making sure no one was watching. Why would anyone be watching?

"Oh, what the hell." I said. "I've always wanted a souvenir from a crater."

I slowly and cautiously reached for the watch.

A/N: And that is the chapter for today! So, this is obviously a Ben 10 origin story, the twist being that it's a story that Gwen requested Ben tell her. So, what are you thinking of the origin story? Do you think it's reasonable that Ben doesn't know whether to be afraid of Kevin or afraid for him? You guys now have a look at how Kai and Ben's relationship ended. Weekly chapters may be coming back soon, I'm not fully sure. Over the next couple chapters, Ben will be learning how to use the Omnitrix and the gifts it will give him. So, I'm going to go. Have a fantastic day, and bye!


	36. Chapter 36: Origins: Part Two

Chapter 36: Origins: Part 2

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty six! This is the second part of the Origins arc, and if you're asking how many parts to this arc there will be, well, I'm not quite sure yet. The next couple chapters will consist of Ben's earliest days with the Omnitrix. We are getting pretty high up there, chapter wise. A few of you may be wondering when this story will end, or rather, how many chapters are going to be written. Well, the answer is that I don't know. The Ben 10: Bride To Be storyline, is a lot like a comic book series to me, and right now, we're in the first volume. There will be multiple volumes, I just don't know when volume 1 will end. Anyway, enough of my rambling. I hope you guys enjoy the second part of the Origins arc!

 _Present Day_

"So, you found it out in the woods?" Gwen asked.

I nodded.

"Yeah. It was some kind of alien pod. And it's still there today." I said.

"It's still there? Can we go see it?" she asked.

"Later. I came back a few days later and covered the pod with all kinds of dead vegetation. Branches, dead shrubs, you name it. I used it to cover it up." I said.

"What happened next?" Gwen asked, her emerald eyes wide with excitement.

 _Last November_

Whatever the alien watch was, it suddenly latched itself onto my wrist. I let out a grunt of pain, as it felt like it was drilling itself into my flesh. I tried to pull it off, but it was hanging on. It was like it had burrowed it's own "veins" or "tendrils" deep into my skin.

Whatever this thing was, it was coming off anytime soon. I kept trying to pull it off, but like I said, it wasn't going anywhere.

"What the hell are you?" I asked, as I pulled so hard that I fell over.

After making several attempts to pull it off, from pushing a stick underneath it to force it off, to whacking it against a tree, I gave up. It was on my wrist to stay. I fell onto my knees in defeat as I stared at the thing on my wrist. It was glowing green a little and it had a few buttons on it.

Overtaken by my own curiosity, I pressed one of the buttons and the "watch's" ring, if that's what that was, popped up. The cursor in the center of the ring changed and showed me the silhouette of a humanoid creature. Ever so cautiously, I turned the ring and almost jumped when the silhouette changed.

This time, it looked like a dog. A really big dog, that is. Even more curious, I turned the ring again, this time seeing the silhouette of a giant, with four arms. I kept turning and turning, until I cam around to the first silhouette I had seen. I concluded that there were only ten of them.

There must have been a reason for the ring having popped up. What would happen if I pushed down on the ring?

 _I couldn't decide if I wanted to push down on the ring or not. I eventually decided I might as well. I didn't notice the voices right away. Maybe it was because I was fearing this thing so much. But I finally realized, that with every turn of the watch's ring, I heard a new voice in my head, whispering. It was too low of a whisper to tell what was being said._

 _And, yes. I can still hear it, right before I transform. Sometimes, I just forget that it's a thing, because sometimes it's so loud around me. Anyway, I couldn't decide which silhouette to push down on. So, I did the eenie meanie minie moe method. That might be how Ghostfreak decided how to randomly pick you._

Once I had chosen the silhouette, it was the first humanoid figure I had seen, I pressed down on the ring. The whispers that were in my head came to a halt, so only one whisper could be heard in my head. There was green flash that came from the watch and when it cleared, it appeared I was no longer human.

I was composed of some sort of type of charcoal and I was on fire. Freaking out, I began running around the crash site, letting out screams of agony. But, I stopped when I realized that they weren't screams of agony. They were just screams.

"Hold on a second." I said, as I stopped running and looked myself over. "I'm on fire, but I'm not getting hurt. Oh, man. I am totally hot!"

I began laughing to myself, when I looked at a tree nearby. I was getting the urge to shoot a fireball at it. I don't know how I knew that this alien could shoot fireballs, but it just came to my mind.

I was about to try and figure out how to shoot a fireball at the tree, but stopped. The logical side of my brain was telling me that it probably wasn't a wise idea.

 _Present Day_

"You almost caused a forest fire?" Gwen asked.

"I could have. The mischievous part of my brain wanted me to do it _so badly_." I said, as I continued telling the story. "But the logical part me decided not to."

"You were reckless when we were younger, Ben. What happened to you?" Gwen asked.

"It's this thing. I think." I said, as I looked at the alien watch. "It's one of the ten gifts that I got from it. It increased my intelligence."

"And the other nine gifts?" Gwen asked.

"I'll get to that part as I continue telling you the story." I said. "Trust me, Gwen. If you thought my life had just gotten crazy _that night_ , you haven't seen nothing yet!"

 _Last November_

 _I had begun to fear that I would never turn back into my normal self and that I'd have to live the rest of my life as this fire creature. But then, as I was beginning to fear the worst, I changed back. I knew that I had to get back home._

 _But this alien watch, this thing, still wouldn't come off. I tried pressing all of the buttons. I ended up pressing that one button again, that caused the ring to pop up. In a panic and not wanting to push the ring down, I pressed that button again, and the ring slowly lowered itself. I guess that pressing the button twice cancelled the action, but I didn't really know._

 _I kept pressing buttons to try to get it to come off, when I eventually settled on something that would have to work. When I pressed the second button on the left, it transformed, to look like a human wrist watch. One that I wanted, at that._

"It'll have to do." I said, letting out a sigh as I started back towards home, putting my hands in my pockets, to hide the new watch.

I made it back to my backdoor within, I'd say, ten minutes. I opened the door and closed it behind me, to see that all of my relatives were now having dessert: pumpkin pie.

"Ben, you're back!" my mom said, getting up to greet me. "Sit down and have some pie!"

I shook my head, as I walked past her.

"It's okay, mom. I just want to be left alone." I said, as I walked out of the dining room and into the hallway.

I was almost to my room, when I stopped, having heard whispers from the kitchen. It was my mom and dad whispering to each other! But something was wrong. I could hear them, as if they were _right next to me_.

"Carl, he just refused to eat pumpkin pie! That's his favorite dessert! He is your son! You have to speak to him! I know he doesn't want to talk about what happened, but he is obviously not well!" my mother whispered from the next room.

"Sandra, no amount of talking will help him. This is something he has to accept on his own." my father whispered back. "He'll come around when he's ready."

I get the fact that as my father, it was his job to help me, but he wanted to leave me alone. I appreciated his decision. But at the same time, I resented him for it.

"Fuck you, dad." I whispered under my breath, closing my room door behind me.

I stayed there for the rest of the night. Eventually, and despite my own wishes, all of my relatives came in to say good bye. The only relative that I actually appreciated coming in to speak with me was Grandpa Max.

The night progressed and I waited and waited. Eventually, it paid off and my mom came in, to kiss me good night, as she _still_ did, even though I was sixteen, going on seventeen. When she left my room, I quietly closed my door and locked it. I opened my bedroom window quietly as well and snuck out.

I spent the rest of the night trying to test these alien forms. First, I transformed into a four-armed, "red-furred" alien. My night was cut short when I got my next alien after that. It was the alien that came to be known as Ghostfreak. I spent the remainder of my time, flying around as Ghostfreak.

 _Ironically, Ghostfreak was my first favorite alien form before it happened. I felt good, more than myself! All of the pain from Kai dumping me had gone away! It was great. I felt better than I ever had before! It didn't last._

 _Present Day_

"I don't know what the watch had become, or what it had done to me, but I was supposed to be able to control these forms and with the alien watch, even _I_ couldn't control Ghostfreak." I said, as the memories came flooding back. "So I came to the conclusion that no one could ever hope to."

"But, for a time you could control him. Is that what you're getting at?" Gwen asked.

"At first. But the more I transformed into him, the amount of time I had control over him decreased more and more." I said. "I swore to only use him when I absolutely needed to. And there were the times that the watch messed up my request and I transformed into him anyway."

"Is that why you always felt like you weren't really yourself? Because Ghostfreak was alive the whole time in that watch?" she asked.

"I think so. I just wished I had figured that out the easy way." I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"I think it happened two weeks ago at the water park. When Vilgax threw me around like a rag doll, the watch must have been damaged and that's how Ghostfreak escaped." I said. "He must have been watching me for a while. And when he found out what I was really doing, that I wasn't using his form on purpose, well, he was pretty angry."

Gwen looked at me, looking as scared as I was when I came face to face with him a couple days ago.

 _Last December_

When I got back to school at the start of December, I was in for a nasty surprise. Not only were they _already_ preparing for the winter dance, but finals were coming up as well. And it was not a good thing for me.

 _Almost everyone at Madison High School would agree with this. Almost all of us would agree with this. The reason we're all here, is not to learn. The real reason we are all here is to have fun, fun, fun. Unfortunately, when I say "we", I don't mean me._

"I'm sorry, Benjamin." my counselor, Mr. Armstrong said.

I was so traumatized after what I heard him say previously, that I hardly comprehended what he had just now said.

"Can you please repeat that?" I asked. "Um, it's a lot to comprehend."

"Of course." Mr. Armstrong replied, with a worried look. "If you fail your Chemistry final, you will flunk the class and you _will_ have to repeat your junior year. I am sorry."

I hung my head, looking down at the carpet floor of his office.

"That's what I thought you said." I said in a glum tone.

"Ben, you seem so sad since our last talk. Did something happen?" he asked.

"Yeah. And I don't want to talk about it." I said, as I continued looking at the ground.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah." I said, as I got up and went to the door and opened it. "Thanks, Mr. Armstrong."

"Ben, wait-" he spoke, but I was already gone.

 _After that day, I walked home with Kevin, since we lived in the same neighborhood. I was surprised that after my outburst last week, he actually wanted to be around me. He called it even after he treated me so badly._

"Oh, man!" I wailed in defeat as we walked. "I can't believe I'm gonna flunk Chemistry!"

"Just because your counselor said that you might flunk doesn't mean you will, man." Kevin said. "And you need to shut up about it. It's all you think about."

I shot him a glare.

"I don't think you understand, Kevin. If I don't pass chemistry, I have to repeat my junior year of high school!" I exclaimed. "I'll be a super senior!"

"I understand, Ben. Jesus. You need to calm down. You'll do just fine." he said, as we walked into our neighborhood.

I looked at Kevin with a hateful look after he said that.

"Ben?" he asked, with notable concern in his voice.

"What I need, is to quit being dissed by all my friends! I need time to get over the fact that Kai dumped me for someone else!" I hissed in anger at him. "But what I need most of all, are supportive friends, you jerk!"

Before I could let him say something, I ran away from him and ran all the way home. When I got home, I opened the door and slammed it behind me, to see my parents sitting on the couch, with unhappy looks on their faces.

"What?" I asked, out of anger.

"Sit down Ben." my mother said, in a unhappy tone.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Sit down, young man." my father said.

I had to do what he said. I took off my backpack and sat down.

"We got a call from the school today." my mother said. "When were you going to tell us that you're failing Chemistry?"

The fact that they knew didn't surprise me.

"I wasn't going to tell you. I-" I tried to continue speaking, but my father cut me off.

"Why?" he asked, in a stern tone.

"Because I thought I could get myself out of the hole that I've fell into. I'm trying." I said. "I really am. But it's h-" I was cut off again.

"How is a fifty five percent in Chemistry trying?!" my father exclaimed angrily.

"Carl! You don't have to be so harsh! He is going through a tough time!" my mother said, defending me.

"You're right. I'm sorry, son." my father apologized for his outburst. "But in all seriousness, how is your grade supposed to be you trying?"

"You always said if I tried, you'd be happy." I said. "The tough thing about trying, is that most of the time, I hardly understand what Mr. Fargas is saying! I thought if maybe, I tried my best on the assignments, it'd be enough. But I guess it wasn't."

"If you don't understand what your teacher is saying in class, then why didn't you ever go to him for help? You should have gone to his tutoring sessions before and after school! You can, it's not too late!" my mother urged me.

"No, it is. The Chemistry final is in a week and a half." I said, as I stared at the ground. "I'm out of time."

"Benjamin, I am frankly getting tired of your attitude." my father said. "I understand after Kai dumped you, that you were down for a while. But that is no excuse for your attitude and your failing grades!"

"How dare you?!" I exclaimed, looking up at my father in anger. "Kai didn't just dump me! She had cheated on me for several weeks! And when it came time to break up with me, she wasn't nice about it! She was a total bitch about it!"

"Benjamin Tennyson!" my mother exclaimed in disapproval.

 _I had been so angry at my father, that I had hardly comprehended what I said just then. It didn't end well._

After sitting in silence for so long, my mother spoke up.

"You are grounded. No T.V., video games, comic books, or Sumo Slammer stuff. Starting tomorrow, every morning you'll go in early and every afternoon you'll stay after with Mr. Fargas to try to bring up your grade and study for your final." she said. "On the weekends, from morning till evening, you will be at the kitchen table studying. And if you do fail Chemistry and have to repeat this year, your summer will be a living hell for you. I can promise you that."

I just sat there in silence. I had never seen or heard my mother this mad.

"Go to your room, Benjamin. Get out of my sight, son." she said.

I grabbed my backpack and got up from the single person couch.

"I'm going to go take a nap." I said, as I walked to my room.

"No. Get out your Chemistry textbook and start studying!" my mother called with irritation.

"Whatever." I said under my breath, as I rolled my eyes.

Once I got into my room, I closed the door and flopped down on my bed, with my textbook lying on my chest. No amount of studying would help. None of the shit in that book made a sense to me.

 _Present Day_

"So, if you told me that you had gotten A's in every class last semester, than why were you failing Chemistry and other classes the previous semester?" Gwen asked.

"The watch did it for me. The whole intelligence thing kind of happened overnight." I said.

"What about those?" she asked, as she traced her fingers on my stomach, over my almost six pack.

The feeling of her fingers on my bare chest sent tingles up my spine.

"That didn't happen overnight. The watch enhanced some of my muscular physique, but I had to work for most of it." I said, as I took her hand in mine. "When the spring swimming season started up again, that's when my muscles really started to grow. I started wanting to work out more and more everyday I wore that thing. Eventually, all you see here was the end result."

Gwen seemed to be blushing.

"Can you continue with the story?" she asked.

I nodded.

 _Last December_

 _The next day after school, I was supposed to go to Mr. Fargas's room. But I didn't. Kevin found me after school and asked me what I was doing. I told him all about what happened yesterday. He asked me if I wanted to come to the weight room with him and study there while he did his afternoon workout. Determined not to allow my parents to win, I said yes._

I sat against the wall, with my Chemistry textbook open in my lap, as I listened to the Kevin strike the punching back in with rhythm.

 _I had made my parents a silent promise. And that was to finish high school on the honor roll list._

"Hey man, I'll be back. I have to refill my water bottle." Kevin said, picking up his water bottle. "If you have to leave for some reason, lock the door behind you. Remember, as the only ones here, Coach Beck is trusting us with the weight room."

I just nodded at him as he left the room. I was so God damn frustrated. All day today, any textbook I opened, for one minute, it was like I understood everything clearly. But the next minute, it was as if the words would swim off the page. I was too frustrated. I closed the textbook.

 _I had lost my girlfriend. But, I got something back in return._

I let out a grunt of anger, as I threw the Chemistry textbook at the punching bag. I watched as the punching bag quickly moved back and forth. I had never known just how much strength I had locked up inside me.

 _Along with the new burst of strength, all five of my senses seemed to function with superhuman sharpness. I could see better than I ever could and I could see in the dark now. To me, darkness is as clear as daylight. I could hear even better than I ever could. Now, if someone was whispering across the room from me, I heard them clearly, as if they were sitting right next to me._

 _My taste buds were incredible now. I didn't use it all the time, but just one taste of something and I could tell you what almost every ingredient was. My smell was the weirdest. The only change that I noticed, was the ability to recognize someone by the scent they had. Everyone's scent was unique to me. Like your scent Gwen? It was like strawberries. Every time I sniffed the air when you were around, I always smelled strawberries, even if the scent was faint._

 _And there was my sense of touch, which might be just as weird as my smell. Everything I touched had a sort of unique texture. I could tell you what color something was just by touching it with my eyes closed. And I could do the same with books! Whenever I touched the pages of a book, the ink stood out. So, I could read a book with my eyes closed if I so wanted to._

 _Sure, it was weird and it got me in trouble a few times, but it was cool. Every time I read like that, it was like I was reading braille._

I walked over to the still moving punching bag and grabbed it, stopping it's moving. Suddenly, I got the urge to hit the bag. So I did. I lightly punched the bag. And then did it again. And again. And again. I liked punching the bag. So, I kept doing it.

After about a minute of punching the bag, I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to be studying. All of the pain that I had endured in the past weeks was gone. I kept punching the bag just as rhythmically as Kevin had been doing. I kept hitting it and hitting it, until I was out of breath.

"Holy shit." I heard Kevin say.

I turned to my right, to see him standing in the doorway, holding his water bottle, with his jaw dropped in surprise.

"I know." I said, as I smiled. "I had no idea that I was so pent up."

Kevin just stared at me.

"You handled that bag like a pro. Are you sure you haven't done it before?" he asked.

"I'm sure." I said.

 _And it was at that moment, that an idea came to my mind. It might have been a diabolical idea, sure. But it was an idea to test my new strength._

"Hey, Kevin?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Sign me up for your fight clubs." I said, a grin coming onto my face.

A wide grin came onto Kevin's face, as if a dream of his had just come true.

A/N: And that is the chapter for today! So, what do you think of how Ben's life used to be, before finding the Omnitrix. He would have flunked Chemistry, that's for sure. What do you think of how Ben was much more angry back then? His parents grounded him, because he was so close to failing. And at the end of the chapter, all of his gifts from the Omnitrix are beginning to develop. And to test his new strength, he requests that Kevin sign him up for the fight clubs, how about that? Well anyway, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter! I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.


	37. Chapter 37: Origins: Part Three

Chapter 37: Origins: Part 3

 _ **Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty seven! So, in this chapter, Ben will be testing his new strength by signing up for the underground fight clubs that Kevin co-runs. Later on in the chapter, Ben will begin to train himself to use the Omnitrix. In this chapter, we'll also see how Ben gets his grades up. So, I can't really think of anything else that I should say, so I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Present Day_

"You actually wanted to sign up for Kevin's fight clubs? And you'd rather do that then study for Chemistry?" Gwen asked.

I nodded.

"I wanted to really test the new strength that I now had." I said. "And besides, I could study at a later time."

"Go on." Gwen said, telling me to continue.

 _Last December_

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" I exclaimed, as I opened the door.

I closed the door behind me, seeing that my parents were sitting on the couch, with the same unhappy looks on their faces from yesterday.

"Oh, come on! Is this seriously another lecture?" I asked.

"Mr. Fargas emailed me, Ben." my mother said. "He said that you never showed up for his tutoring session. Where did you go?"

I let out a sigh of frustration.

"I went to the library, okay?" I asked. "I wanted to give it one more try by myself. If I couldn't make sense out of the assignments, _then_ I would go to Mr. Fargas for help."

My mother shook her head, a frown growing on her face.

"That's not good enough, Ben. You have to go into tutoring. It's what we say you should do." she said.

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I had to resist that urge.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." I said, as I moved with my backpack in hand, towards my room.

"Ben, you're not taking you're current situation seriously!" my mother exclaimed, as I heard her get up to follow me. "You are aware that if you flunk Chemistry, you will repeat your junior year, right?"

I turned around to look at my mother, slowly becoming irritated.

"Yes, mother. I am aware." I said."And I'm going to get out of this. Just you watch. You'll see."

 _Present Day_

"Gwen, do you remember a couple weeks ago at the water park, I told you that I preferred not to wear sun screen?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Well, this next part is why I said that." I said. "I think I might be immune to burns."

Gwen looked confused.

"I can tell that you're confused. So, let me explain." I said.

 _Last December_

 _That night is when I first noticed the second of the ten gifts that the alien watch had given me. I came out of my room, tired of lying in there in silence, doing nothing. So, I was getting hungry and wanted to see what my parents were doing for dinner._

I got off of my bed and walked out of my room. I walked down the hallway, into the living room, where both of my parents were sitting on the couch.

"Hey, what are we doing for dinner?" I asked.

"There are some hot dogs heating up on the stove, since we can't use the grill outside." my father said. "They'll be ready pretty soon."

"Okay, cool. I'm going to get something to drink from the fridge." I said, as I walked into the kitchen.

"You do that." my mother said as I walked into the kitchen.

I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. I was reaching for a soda, when I sniffed the air. The smell of hot dogs cooking that was in the air was overwhelming to me. I closed the fridge and walked over to the stove.

I looked around, to make sure no one was watching. No one was, of course. I looked at the pot on the stove, with cooking hot dogs in it. I stuck my hand inside of the pot and grabbed a hot dog. Yes, you heard that right.

I had disregarded the fact that it would be hot. In fact, to me, it didn't feel hot! I pulled the hot dog out of the pot and bit into it, walking back into the living room.

"Hey, why is the water in there cold?" I asked.

My mother and father looked up at me shock, seeing me chewing on one of the hot dogs.

"Ben, that was boiling water!" my mother exclaimed.

I shrugged.

"Didn't feel like it." I said, as I continued eating the hot dog.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah. I feel fine." I said, as I finished eating the hot dog.

My mother got up and walked over to me, putting the back of her hand against my forehead.

"You're not running a fever." she said.

"Like I said, I feel fine." I said, as I walked back to my room.

 _Once back in my room, seeing nothing else to do, I went back to studying. It was only later that I realized that I had stuck my hand into a pot of boiling water and had felt nothing._

 _Present Day_

"Let me get this straight," Gwen replied. "You stuck your hand into a pot of boiling water and it didn't hurt?"

I chuckled, reacting to the serious look that was on her face.

"I do believe that's what I'm saying." I said.

Gwen slapped me on the cheek. My head snapped back, as I put my hand to the now red mark on my cheek. I looked back at Gwen, to see that there was an unhappy look on her face.

"Okay, I guess I kinda deserved that." I said, as I rubbed my cheek.

"Yeah, you kinda did." she replied. "Jesus, Ben. With all of these gifts that you're telling me about, are you even human anymore? Like, is that thing slowly converting your human DNA into alien DNA?"

"I think you're overlooking it." I said. "And you're one to talk. What about that weird energy shit that you can do? Does that make _you_ human anymore?"

"Don't change the subject." Gwen replied.

"Sorry. But seriously, what about it?" I asked.

"Do you think that you are human anymore?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"Why wouldn't I be human?" I asked. "I still bleed red. So, doesn't that make me human still?"

"But, it's your DNA that worries me." Gwen said. "There has to be someone in the world that can find out if you still have human DNA or not."

I shrugged again.

"Can I continue with my story?" I asked. "You're the one who asked me to tell you the story."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." she replied.

 _Last December_

I sat at my desk, tapping my fingers on it's surface out of anxiety. I was in Chemistry class and was awaiting Mr. Fargas coming up to talk to me. I heard footsteps and looked up, to see the gray haired teacher walking up to me.

"Mr. Tennyson, you didn't arrive to my classroom yesterday afternoon." he said. "Where were you?"

"I went to the library. I thought maybe I could try to-" I was speaking, but Mr. Fargas cut me off.

"You didn't come to my session." he said, in a stern voice. "I can't help you unless you want to help yourself by coming to my sessions."

I was about to say something, but I stopped myself.

 _Why even bother?_

I hung my head, before speaking.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fargas." I replied. "I promise I'll show up today."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to yourself. You decided to go to the library and not to come to me." he said. "And I can't do a session today. As funny as it probably sounds to you, I suggest you go to the library."

I rolled my eyes as Mr. Fargas walked away.

 _No. I wouldn't go to the library that day._

 _Present Day_

"So, where'd you go instead?" Gwen asked.

"I went to Kevin's underground fight clubs." I said. "I wanted to put my strength to the test. And see just how much money I could make off of my skills."

"So, you decided to exploit your skills?" she asked.

"I know. It sounds bad. But after a while, I realized that what I was doing wasn't right." I said. "Once I had made my way to the top of the fight club food chain, I cut myself off from the fights. Even if the fans demanded that their number one fighter return to the ring, I refused."

"Wait, you became the fight club's number one fighter? And how long did that take?" Gwen asked.

"It didn't take that long at all. I had strength and agility that I originally didn't have." I said. "The agility that I gotten was the thing that made it so easy to dodge my opponent's attacks."

"Will you tell me about it?" she asked.

"Of course. But after you and I get dressed. And over lunch." I said, as I smirked. "It's almost noon."

Gwen looked at my phone, realizing I was right and that we'd been sitting in bed all day.

 _Last December_

"So, you ready?" Kevin asked me.

"I think so." I said, being fairly nervous.

Kevin and I walked through the basement of the school, looking for the stairwell that led to the sub basement. I know it sounds complicated, but apparently Madison High School wasn't always the school I knew and _didn't_ love.

Some story about how the school used to be an asylum back in the old days. Did I believe it? No, of course I didn't. We found the stairwell and descended down the flight of stairs. He led me to a metal door and opened it, revealing dozens of students in a large, but confined area.

"Wow." I said.

"Of course it's wow to _you_. To me, it's business." Kevin said.

"Is this legal?" I asked, as we walked through the sub basement.

"Not at all!" Kevin exclaimed. "Why do you think it's called an "underground fight club"?"

I nodded, as I continued to observe the "fight club". There were several fenced off areas, with gates to open them up. I assumed that those were the fighting rings. And there were, like I said, dozens of what I assumed were students down here.

"Are all of these people students at Madison High?" I asked.

"Some. There are a few high school dropouts here." Kevin said.

"So, if I'm going to be fighting, then who is my opponent?" I asked.

" _Opponents_. You're fighting two of our strongest fighters." Kevin said.

"Two?! Why?!" I exclaimed.

"Because I saw what you were capable of. You can take more than one fighter." Kevin insisted. "How much do you want to bet on yourself before the fight begins?"

"I beg your pardon?" I asked.

"All the fighters have to bet on themselves. Makes things more interesting." Kevin said.

"Fine. Five bucks." I said.

"More than that. You can't bet any less than ten bucks." Kevin said.

 _I thought that was bullshit. I knew it was bullshit. Why did I bet on myself? Later on did I realize that the "I knew I'd win" reason was bullshit as well. So, why did I bet on myself? Well, the big reason was I had to. And I don't even know why I bet on myself instead of leaving._

"Fine." I said, as I handed Kevin the ten bucks. "So, when do I begin fighting?"

"Um, now. Did you want to take off your jacket?" he asked.

I just looked at him, with a look of shock on my face. He had a dark grin on his face.

"Well, you wouldn't want to bloody up your favorite jacket, would you?" Kevin asked, with the same dark grin on his face.

"No." I said, as a serious look crossed my face. "I wouldn't."

I slipped off my favorite green jacket and threw it into Kevin's hands. He held onto it for me.

"So, when do I begin?" I asked again.

"Right now." Kevin said. "You ready?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Do I have a choice?" I asked.

"Not really. You said you wanted to sign up for the fights." Kevin said. "I granted your wish."

"You're an asshole." I said, through gritted teeth.

"I am fully aware of that." Kevin said, with the same look on his face. "Now, get in the ring. Prepare for your match."

"Fuck this. I'm not doing this." I said, trying to take my ten bucks back from him.

Kevin withdrew his hand, not letting me get my money back.

"Give me my money, Kevin!" I exclaimed.

He shook his head, pointing at the cage.

"Cage. Now." he said.

 _It was then that I questioned why Kevin and I were still friends. I still don't know the answer._

"No." I said, in a firm tone. "Don't force someone to do something that they don't want to do anymore!"

"Get in the damn cage!" Kevin exclaimed.

Anger growing inside of me, I punched Kevin in the jaw. He stumbled backwards a little bit, before giving me a very angry and hateful glare. He gripped me by the back of my shirt and pushed me into the cage, locking it behind me.

"Just for that, I'll make sure everyone here puts an additional bet on you losing the fight! You heard me, an additional ten bucks!" Kevin exclaimed.

His fans complied.

"Oh, Kevin, now I hate you!" I exclaimed, as I looked at him through the cage.

"I know you do, Benji!" he exclaimed with sinister laughter. "Prove to me that you're tough enough to survive and I'll let you out of there!"

I was about to curse at Kevin some more, when I was pulled backwards, away from the cage wall. I was punched in the jaw, which sent me into the opposite corner of the cage. I looked at my attacker and didn't recognize him. He must have been one of the drop outs.

I looked at my other attacker and barely recognized him as a boy who used to bully me in the third grade. I backed up against the cage, as they drew closer to me. I knew I was about to get my ass kicked.

But then, time seemed to slow down for me. I could see more clearly and I wasn't afraid anymore. I knew that I was going to have fun kicking _their_ asses. I don't know what happened, I guess my instincts kicked in. I continued to watch them slowly approach me. Well, in theory, it looked slow to me, but they were still coming at me as fast as they had been.

Time resumed normally for me and I looked all around the cage for an advantage. I began running along the cage wall, using my right hand to maintain my balance, making sure I wouldn't fall. I then jumped from the wall, and met one of my attackers with my foot in their face.

I then kicked off from their face and went into a back flip. I grasped the top of the cage with both hands and looked down at my opponents.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" my victim exclaimed, obviously not able to understand that I was above them.

"Oh, boys!" I said, before whistling.

They both looked up, to see me hanging from my hands above them.

"Why you little-" one of my opponents said, but I cut him off by swinging both my feet into their faces.

I allowed myself to fall, landing right in front of them. After they recovered, they tried to attack. I swept my leg into one of my opponent's knees, causing him to stumble. As he recovered, I punched my other attacker in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.

I didn't know how this was even happening. I had never gotten into a fight in my life. So, I didn't understand how I was winning. As my other attacker recovered, I punched him in the jaw. He blindly struck at me, and I ducked, causing him to nail his partner in the face.

His partner stumbled back, as I punched my attacker again. I grabbed both of their heads once they were close enough and pulled them towards each other. Once they headbutted, they fell to the ground. They didn't get back up.

I looked up at Kevin through the cage.

"There, you prick! Are you happy now?!" I exclaimed.

Instead of answering, Kevin just looked at me in shock.

"The Ben I know wouldn't be able to do that." Kevin finally spoke. "You're a freak! A freak!"

And then, dropping my jacket and all of the money he had collected from the bets, he ran, along with everyone else out of the place. My jaw dropped. Kevin was actually afraid of me!

A minute later, I was alone in the sub basement, with my two unconscious opponents.

 _I think it was then that I realized that Kevin wasn't the friend I thought he was. He was frightened by my strength and ran. What kind of friend runs away when they find out that their other friend has a new found strength?_

I sat down, leaning against the cage, realizing that I may have just lost my friend, all because I finally did what he wanted. He was just taken back a little too far by how powerful I now was.

"Someone help me." I said, as I put my head into my hands. "I'm scared of myself."

A/N: And so that is the chapter for today! Well, how are you guys enjoying Ben's origin story? How about the few fluffy moments between Ben and Gwen? In the next chapter, Past Ben will probably start training his abilities in the city. I'm not quite sure yet. I hope you guys are enjoying the story. I'm gonna go though, so have a great day and bye!


	38. Chapter 38: Origins: Part Four

Chapter 38: Origins: Part 4

 _ **Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty eight! This is the fourth part of the Origins arc and there will be one more part. Anyway, in this chapter, Ben makes the transition from making average grades to making the best grades. Also, he begins to train his abilities within the city. There's a good chunk of Bwen fluffiness present in this chapter. Let's get on with this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Present Day_

"So, he and all of the rest left you there? Alone?" Gwen asked.

I nodded.

"Why are you two still friends?" she asked.

"We're not." I said.

"Wait, what?" Gwen asked.

"Gwen, Kevin crossed a line. He was part of the group that abducted you and later tried to get you killed." I said. "He is no longer my friend. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to save him."

"So, you will try to cure him?" she asked.

"Yes, but that's just the thing. I'm not sure if he _can_ be cured." I said.

Gwen said nothing. I looked at the alien watch, while in wrist watch mode, to see that it was past noon.

"Oh, look at the time!" I said, as I got up from the kitchen table, grabbing my plate. "I've got to get my costume back from Julie!"

As I put my plate in the sink, Gwen spoke up.

"Why does she have your costume?" she asked.

"When you almost died, after Ghostfreak failed and let us go, I took you to her." I said. "My costume was ripped up in several places, so she offered to fix it for me."

"How did you meet Julie?" Gwen asked.

"She patched me up, after Sixsix shot me." I said. "Well, then, he wasn't-"

"You were shot?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Yes." I said.

"Where?!" she exclaimed.

"My shoulder." I said, in the calmest voice I could muster.

"Show me." she said, acting like my mother, again.

I let out a sigh, as I pulled back my black shirt, showing her the spot where I was shot almost a week ago.

"But, this just normal looking skin!" Gwen exclaimed in a surprised tone, as she touched my shoulder. "There's no trace of a bullet wound here!"

I wasn't even paying attention, since the fact that her heavenly fingers were touching me was present.

"Ben!" she exclaimed, catching my attention.

"Yeah, uh, just like when I beat up that drunk guy in the park?" I said. "I guess the alien watch gives me a healing factor or something like that."

"Wow." Gwen said, as she took her hands away. "So, are we taking your car or mine?"

"Your car." I said. "I can't continue telling you the story if I'm the one driving."

"True enough." Gwen said, as she grabbed her keys. "Let's go."

 _Last December_

I walked home alone that afternoon. I didn't even pick up all of the money that was left behind. Picking it up felt wrong, since everyone ran off scared. So, I let myself out of the sub basement and walked out of the school.

Once I got home, my parents greeted me, too which I just mumbled a greeting back.

"Ben?" my mother asked, sounding concerned. "Are you-"

"I'm fine." I said, as I walked to my room.

I opened the door and closed it behind me, tossing my backpack onto the floor. I threw myself onto my bed, onto my back.

 _Kevin had abandoned me at the underground fight clubs. Could I blame him? There are days when I think, that I couldn't blame him. I mean, come on. I found some kind of weird piece of alien technology in the woods. And when I decided to test my new found abilities, what was I to expect? Even I scared myself! I would eventually have to forgive him. But today, he is not my friend._

 _I just can't forgive him for what he was a part of. He crossed a line._

Kevin avoided me for the whole next day. I didn't catch a glimpse of him. That day, I finally got some good news. Mr. Fargas came around, handing back assignments, so we students could look at our grades.

"No doubt another F for me." I whispered to myself.

Mr. Fargas put my assignment on my desk.

"Impressive work, Mr. Tennyson." he said. "Keep it up."

There was no way that he had given me the right assignment. But when I looked at the paper, it confirmed it. It had my name on it. But what shocked me the most, was the grade on it. The grade was a B minus.

I was stunned.

 _It was Grey Matter. I later learned that his gift was intelligence. Later that day, I'd figure out what the alien I called "Upgrade"'s gift to me would be. I learned what his gift was while in the computer lab._

I had to stay after school with Mr. Fargas. We were in the computer lab, as he was helping me with our last Chemistry web quest for the semester.

"Oh, bugger!" Mr. Fargas said. "Mr. Tennyson, do you think you can manage for five or ten minutes? I need a refill of coffee."

"Yes, sir. I think I'm understanding this now." I said. "Go take a break. Get yourself some coffee."

"Right. I'll be back before you know it, Mr. Tennyson." he replied, getting up from his spot next to me.

Once he was gone, I turned my attention back to the computer screen. I was a little irritated. The computer was running _sooo_ slow, and at this rate, I would be here for another couple of hours. I scrolled through the page I was on, skimming the text for the answer, but it was going too slow.

I decided to just call it quits and go home. But I realized that wouldn't be what my parents wanted, as if it mattered. So, I tried to think about what else I could do.

"What if it's a problem with the internal machinery?" I asked myself.

I realized that I had no idea how that idea came to mind. I found myself beginning to gently take off the front of the computer, not the monitor. I looked at all of the wiring inside, among other things, looking for the problem.

I eventually noticed what the problem was, fixed it and placed the front of the computer back on. It was only later that I'd realize I had no idea how I knew how to do that.

 _Upgrade's gift was that I was good with machines. How do you think I knew what I was doing when I made all of the tech for myself, such as the wrist gauntlets?_

After doing that, I noticed that the computer ran a lot smoother and faster. I continued working after that, as if nothing had happened. Mr. Fargas came back, and he helped me with the final questions of the assignment. And that was that.

I handed in my assignment to him and he thanked me for it. I walked out of the computer lab and headed for the exit, leaving school for the day. As I walked out of the school, I took out my phone and dialed my mom's phone number.

"Hello?" she asked upon answering the phone.

"Hey, Mom, I'm done at school for the day. I'm gonna go into the city to pick up a sandwich or something to eat." I lied. "I didn't have lunch today, since I've been so busy. Is that okay?"

"Yes Ben, that's fine. But come by the house to get your bike." she said. "It's faster than walking."

"Okay. I'll be there soon." I said, before hanging up.

 _Present Day_

Gwen and I waited outside of Julie's apartment, after I had knocked.

"So, she saved your life after you were shot?" Gwen asked.

"Yes. We already established that fact." I said.

A few more seconds passed and Julie opened the door.

"Gwen! And Ben!" Julie said. "Your check-up appointment was yesterday! What are you doing back here?"

Gwen let out a sigh.

"I'll wait out here while you get your costume." she said, before kissing my cheek.

"Gwen!" I exclaimed in an embarrassed tone. "Don't you want to see my costume?"

"I've already seen it! And I can't say that I'm impressed." Gwen protested.

"Wow, I didn't think you could be so savage." I said, continuing whatever this was, forgetting Julie was even there.

"You know it. Now go take care of business." Gwen said, as she walked a few feet down the hall.

"So, uh, did you want to come in now?" Julie asked, in the most awkward tone imaginable.

"Um, yeah." I said, blushing a light red as I walked in.

"So, you two are together now? Congratulations. What, uh, did you do to win her over?" Julie asked in a curious tone.

"Um, I did nothing." I said.

"What?" Julie asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah." I said.

"What do you mean you did nothing?" she asked.

"I mean that I did nothing. We made amends for all of the weird stuff that was going on between us." I said. "And a few days later, she found out my identity. And that was that."

"How many days have you guys been together?" she asked.

"Only one. We got together last night." I said.

"Congratulations. Again." Julie said. "But, you're here for your costume, right?"

"Yes." I said.

"It's in here." Julie said, as I followed her into another room.

We walked into the other room and I saw pieces of my costume scattered across her table. And it looked good as new, as well.

I picked up my mask, to see that the former shattered lens was no longer there. In it's place, was a new lense, identical to the other one.

"This lense is new!" I exclaimed, as I looked at her.

A light blush appeared on Julie's cheeks.

"It took me while to find the exact type and color of lens that you used." Julie said. "I wanted you to get your costume back just the way it was."

The mask was just so perfect.

"It's perfect! It's like the shattered lens was never there!" I said in a happy tone. "Thank you, Julie!"

"You haven't looked at the rest of the costume." Julie said.

I picked up my leather jacket, to see that the holes in the shoulder had been sewn. My gloves, well, one of them had been sewn a little as well. My wrist gauntlets were also fine, but they looked shiny, as if Julie had polished them. Now, there was no presence of blood on the shoulder of my jacket.

"It took a lot to clean that jacket of any blood that was on it." Julie said. "But I got it done."

I put down the leather jacket back on the table. I turned to Julie and hugged her.

"Okay, okay! Let's not get carried away!" she exclaimed, taken aback by the hug.

She pulled away rather quickly.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I just can't thank you enough."

"You done more than enough to thank me, Ben." Julie said. "And, the costume isn't the only change I've made."

"Oh?" I asked. "Then what's the other change?"

"I changed the cables on your wrist gauntlets, I think you called them?" she said.

"I don't understand. Why would you change them?" I asked. "I liked them just the way they were."

"Because they weren't able to support your weight very well. So, I replaced them with a more durable cable." she said. "And another plus, you'll be able to swing from them."

"And where did you find the cables?" I asked.

Julie sighed.

"Okay, so I know a guy, who knows a guy, who-" Julie began to speak, but I interrupted her.

"I've heard it before. Who is he?" I asked.

"He uh, prefers to remain anonymous at this time. He told me that he'd get to you when he's ready." she said.

"Why do I feel like I should be scared?" I asked.

"It's fine, really." Julie said. "He's a friend. Trust me."

"I'm going to take your word on this." I said, as I grabbed one of my wrist gauntlets.

"Um, what are you doing?" she asked, as I put the gauntlet on my wrist.

"Testing it." I said.

"Um, in my apartment?" she asked. "I don't think so!"

"Your apartment will be fine." I said, before firing the gauntlet at the wall.

"What the hell?!" Julie exclaimed.

I ignored what she said and looked at the new cable on the gauntlet. It was wider and it didn't sway as much.

"How durable is the cable?" I asked.

"What about my wall?!" she exclaimed.

"Answer the question." I said.

"It won't break if you swing from it, if that's what your asking." she said, in an angered tone.

"Did you take it apart yourself? To connect the wire and the grapple hook?" I asked.

"Yes. And I put it back together myself." she said.

"All by yourself? And you understood how to do it?" I asked.

"Yes." she said.

"Didn't you say that you were going to school to be a doctor or a nurse?" I asked.

"Yeah. What about it?" she asked.

"Maybe you should reconsider your career path." I said.

"Why?" she asked, looking at me funny.

"You did good. Maybe you should consider being an engineer." I said.

She didn't smile.

"Although I accept the compliment, I have to say no. I've come so far in my schooling." she said. "I can't quit now."

"Well then don't." I said.

"I won't. Now, you should go. You've gotten what you've come for." she said. "Now I have to worry about what my landlord will say about the new hole in the wall. There's a bag in the living room you can use to carry the costume. Go."

I could sense she was mad about me firing the hook into her apartment's wall. I retracted the hook and took off the gauntlet. I walked into the other room to get the bag she spoke of.

After I came back into the kitchen with it, I stuffed all of the pieces of it into the bag.

"Well, goodbye then." I said.

Julie didn't answer me. I took that as her way of telling me to leave now, so I did. I opened the door to her apartment and closed it behind me as I walked back into the hallway.

I walked down to Gwen and we began walking down the hall, side by side.

"You good?" she asked, as she took my hand in hers.

"Yeah." I said, as I gently squeezed her hand.

"You can continue telling your story now." she reminded me.

"Oh. Of course." I said, as I thought about where we left off. "But before I do, I have a question for you."

"Okay. Then ask away." she said.

"Are you lying to yourself Gwen?" I asked. "A while ago you thought I was in denial. And now I think you're the same way."

"Ben, what are you talking about?" Gwen asked, with a confused expression on her face.

"Gwen, do you _really_ love me? Or are you just giving me the affection that I want?" I asked.

Gwen's eyes widened.

"Jesus, Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, with a look of anger on her face.

"Well?" I asked.

"I trusted you not to ask me that!" she said, as she let go of my hand and stormed off.

"Wait. Wait a minute!" I said, as I gently gripped her wrist, preventing her from going anywhere.

"Let go of me, Ben!" she said.

"If you feel like you have to give me your affection, then don't." I said. "I love you, Gwen. But if you feel like it's required of you to return my feelings, then you don't have to. If you still prefer "Alien Guy Ben" over "Normal Ben", then I get it. I won't complain if you decide not to be my girlfriend. As long as you're happy, I am too. No one is forcing you to be my girlfriend. So don't be if you don't want to."

Gwen looked at me with this certain look. It wasn't anger. It was sadness. Her eyes were watery, like mine were that night last week where I thought I would lose her forever.

"Ben, when I kissed you last night I made a choice. I chose to be with you. I also realized that I was stupid not to realize you were the love of my life." she said, looking down at the floor. "I was so busy trying to win Alien Guy's and ultimately your affection, that I didn't notice you. And when you kissed me that night, when we were hanging upside down, I knew something was up. Alien Guy had already told me he didn't want a relationship. I just didn't know it was you at the time."

"I kissed you that night because I eventually planned on revealing my identity to you and hoping that we could gain each other's trust enough so that we could stay in a relationship." I said. "Obviously my plan didn't go the way I wanted it to."

"Anyway," she said, ignoring what I had said. "That kiss last night came with a revelation. There was no Alien Guy or Lucky Girl. It was just masks we had created. You created Alien Guy to have a way to feel good about yourself. I created Lucky Girl to get closer to you. There is no Alien Guy or Lucky Girl. There's just Ben and Gwen. A boy who was crazy for his cousin and a girl who fell for her cousin without even knowing it. We're just two normal people who have special abilities. I couldn't be happier being your girlfriend."

She hugged me, pressing herself up against me and wrapping her arms around me.

"I love you." she whispered.

"I love you, too." I whispered back.

"I feel like we should have gotten together ages ago." Gwen said. "All I want to do is make up for lost time."

"Gwen, every second that we're together is making up for lost time. You don't need to worry." I said. "We have a whole summer together. And the rest of our lives if we play our cards right."

"Continue your story now, please." Gwen said.

 _Last December_

 _Every day from there on out was smooth sailing. Don't ask me how a teenager flunking Chemistry picked up that grade in only a few days. You won't get an answer. Also every day from there on out, I would spend my afternoons in the city, trying to train myself to use the alien watch._

 _High above the roar of the streets, I trained my body and all ten of my new alien forms. Every alien gave me the right combination of strength, speed and balance. And eventually, the city itself would become my playground. I was becoming the man without fear._

I sprinted to the edge of the building that I was on. Upon reaching the edge, I dove off, going into a free fall towards the rooftop below me.

"Whoo-hoo!" I exclaimed, as I activated the alien watch. "I've never felt so alive!"

I transformed into an alien I called Diamondhead and landed on my feet on the rooftop. I began running to the edge of that rooftop, too. I was really just free-running at this point, I wasn't really doing anything else.

 _You remember all of those gifts that I mentioned that the aliens gave me? I eventually figured out what they were. Wildmutt's gift was a better sense of smell. Greymatter's gift was enhanced intelligence. Upgrade's gift was a better understanding of technology and machinery._

 _I think Diamondhead's gift was tougher skin, like my skin is harder to break than normal. And I tested it by trying to cut myself with a knife. It's not like the knife was dull, it was a steak knife and it still wasn't enough to cut through my skin. Ripjaws's gift was_ _obvious. My lung capacity was increased._

 _Fourarms gave me increased strength and I suppose he made me better with hand to hand combat. Stinkfly's gift was going nose blind. You know, not being able to smell bad odors. Don't ask me how that's supposed to help me, because I don't know. XLR8 gave me an increased stamina, so I could run for longer periods of time._

 _And Heatblast's gift was immunity to burns. And Ghostfreak's gift? To be honest, I don't know what his gift is, or if he even gave me one for that matter. Ghostfreak was alive in the watch the whole time I had it and that makes it hard to believe that I got a gift from him as well._

I continued running as I heard an alarm begin to go off. I jumped down to a lower rooftop, where I looked to where the alarm was coming from. Convienence store. Looks like a chance to start using my new powers for good!

I ran to the edge of the roof and dove off of the roof.

 _It had begun. Alien Guy was born._

A/N: And that's it for the chapter! What did everyone think of Ben getting his costume back, followed by the emotional exchange between Ben and Gwen out in the hallway? What does everyone think about the gifts that the aliens have given Ben? How about how Greymatter is saving his butt in school? Kevin will be making his return in the next chapter, that's for sure. When I say there's one more chapter in this arc, I'm more like cutting it off.

I'm running out of time in this arc and there's not a whole lot more that I can do with it. I might pick it back up in the future though. I will say this: On Christmas Day this year, I will be releasing a special fortieth chapter! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, that's cool. It's just the day it's being released.

I'll try to make it longer, since it's the fortieth chapter of the story. And it will be the last chapter of 2017 for this story. So, look out for that. That's it for me! Catch you guys next time with the next chapter!


	39. Chapter 39: Origins: Part Five

Chapter 39: Origins: Part 5

 _ **Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter thirty nine, people! Wow, I can't believe we're almost to chapter forty! Nevertheless, this is the second to last update to this story for 2017. This is the final part of the Origins arc, and will tie up any loose ends. Plus, it leaves open an opportunity to continue the arc later down the line, if anyone wants more of the arc, anyway. So, I can't really say much else, so let's get on with it!

 _Ben_

 _Present Day_

I sat on the couch in the basement, reading a comic book. Gwen was upstairs taking a shower or something, I couldn't really recall. I was too immersed in reading my comic book.

Ten minutes went by, and I heard semi-rapid footsteps coming down the stairs. I let out a sigh.

 _Three, two, one..._

I felt someone flop down on the couch next to me, and Gwen put her head down on my lap, resting it there as she looked up at me. Her hair was still slightly wet and it was getting my jeans wet.

"Seriously, Gwen? Your hair is getting the crotch of my jeans wet!" I complained.

"You shouldn't mind it. I don't. I think your jeans look better with a wet spot!" Gwen replied.

I closed my comic book for a second and regarded her with a strange look.

"You're so weird." I said.

"I know you are, but what am I?" Gwen asked.

"Beautiful." I said, letting out a sigh. "You're absolutely beautiful, Gwen. And I wouldn't ever change it."

Gwen smirked, as she reached up and put her hand on the back of my neck. She lowered my face down to hers and kissed me. It was difficult on my neck, but it was a new experience, I'll say that.

After we were done, I sat back up all the way, relieving the pain in my neck.

"Wow." Gwen said, with a dreamy look in her eyes. "That was different."

"Yeah..." was all I could master, as I picked my comic book back up.

"Whatcha reading?" Gwen asked, not sitting up from her spot in my lap.

"Um, Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 17: Clone Saga." I said, I flipped back open to the spot I had left of on.

"Who's your favorite villain?" she asked.

"Easy. Venom." I said.

"Seriously? A symbiote?" Gwen asked. "Can't you go a little more classic? Like, who's the guy on that flying saucer thing?"

"It's not a flying saucer, Gwen. It's a glider. And it depends on which Goblin you're talking about." I said, as I snorted. "And as for Venom, it's not a symbiote in the Ultimate storyline. He was the cure for cancer."

"How many goblins are there? Venom, the cure for cancer?" Gwen asked. "And what's the Ultimate storyline? I thought the Amazing Spider-Man was Spidey's main stream comic series?"

"It was. But that started in the sixties and Spidey has had several other series that existed in the Amazing continuity. Such as Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man Unlimited, Spectacular Spider-Man, I could go on." I said.

"Okay, what about this Ultimate Spider-Man you're reading?" Gwen asked.

"It was part of an attempt to make Marvel appeal more to younger audiences, set in modern times." I said. "It was released in the early 2000's. It also had the Avengers, known as the Ultimates this time around, as well as the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, most notably."

"Okay. Can we go back to the Goblin with the glider?" Gwen asked.

"It depends on who you're talking about. There's the Hobgoblin, who's my favorite by the way, the Green Goblin, New Goblin from the terrible last entry in the Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi and the Grey Goblin, if you really want to include that monster." I said.

"Why is Hobgoblin your favorite?" Gwen asked.

"His design. I just love his design after he returns in the comics, after believed to be dead. There's just something about his scarred face." I said.

"What about the Green Goblin? Don't you like him?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, hell no!" I exclaimed. "I hate the Green Goblin! I can't stand him!"

"Why? What's so bad about him?" Gwen asked.

"The Green Goblin has done so many bad things to Peter Parker over the years. And the worst has got to be the time he killed his first girlfriend, Gwen Stacy." I said. "Not to mention the fact that he banged her before killing her."

"Wait, what?" Gwen asked. "The Green Goblin banged Gwen Stacy?"

"Yes, which would eventually give birth to the awful Sins Past storyline." I said.

"What's that about?" Gwen asked.

"It was the debut of the Stacy Twins. Which would eventually reveal them, the Grey Goblin and his accomplice, to be Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy's children." I said. "They grew up so fast due to an experimental serum that their father gave them."

"Wow, that's screwed up." Gwen said.

"You're telling me." I said, going back to reading.

I wasn't even reading for a few minutes, before Gwen asked another question.

"Why is that person transforming into a red and black slimy monster?" she asked.

"What?" I asked, not knowing what she meant before I looked. "Oh, that's Gwen Stacy. Or the clone of Gwen Stacy rather. She was born with the Carnage symbiote as a byproduct of her creation."

"I thought you told me that Gwen Stacy was dead?" she asked.

Apparently telling her she was a clone didn't do anything.

"Oh, she is, don't worry." I said. "But this is the Ultimate universe. She died in the original universe, was cloned several times, but all of them died. In the Ultimate universe, she was cloned once and that was that."

"Oh my God, that doesn't make sense." Gwen said, as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, comic books aren't for you, then." I said, as I flipped to the next page.

Gwen didn't do anything for a few seconds. So, it surprised the hell out of me when she lifted her head up and bit down onto my wrist, but not enough to break the skin.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, as I dropped my comic book, to which Gwen laughed. "What was that for?!"

"For not paying attention to me." she replied, with a playful look in her eyes.

She had my attention now. I forgot all about the comic book that was on the floor, as I looked back at her.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I want you to stop reading that boring comic and continue telling me your story." she said.

I was slightly disappointed. I thought she wanted to cuddle.

"They're not-" I began to protest, but stopped myself. "Oh, all right."

"Thank you." she said, as she rested her head back down into my lap.

I rolled my eyes, not too eager to get back into the story.

 _Last December_

 _The next day I found Kevin at school. He had nowhere to go, so I cornered him and eventually, he faltered. Was it fair, that he left me there all by myself? No, of course it wasn't. How about me forgiving him? I probably shouldn't have forgave him, but I did._

"You left me. Alone. What were you thinking?" I asked, through gritted teeth.

"Okay, I wasn't thinking! It freaked me out when you showed such strength!" Kevin said. "I mean, come on Tennyson! You're a fucking weakling!"

I took that personally. My face twitched as what he said registered.

"Am I a weakling?" I whispered.

"Yeah Ben, you're a weakling. A fucking sissy!" he said.

I stood there for a second, before doing anything. I punched Kevin in the nose, causing it to make a popping sound. As I drew my hand backwards, I saw blood begin to slowly drip from his nose.

"Am I a weakling _now_?" I asked.

"Jesus, man." was all he said.

"Tell me, I want to know. Am I a weakling?!" I exclaimed.

"No, you're not a weakling!" Kevin exclaimed.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear! Now, back to the issue. You left me!" I exclaimed.

"You freaked me out! I've never seen you do stuff like that!" he exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter if you've never seen me do stuff like that! You abandoned me!" I exclaimed. "And I fully expect you to pay for it."

"Okay, we can do that! How much of the money from the match do you w-" he began speaking, but I cut him off.

"I don't want any of the money! Your system is illegal! Here's what I want instead: I'll fight for you until I get to the top of your leaderboard or whatever!" I said. "Once I've done that, I'm out of the system and you never mention my name again! Even if they want me to come back! Do you understand?"

"But dude, that's not fair! I can't just not pay you!" he said.

"I don't care if it's fair or not!" I exclaimed. "You will not pay me, or I'm done! You understand? I'm not in it for the money!"

"You're in it for the fame!" Kevin replied, chuckling.

"Shut up." I said, as I turned around and began to walk away. "Nice talking to you again, asshole!"

"Whatever, shrimp!" Kevin called back.

 _Present Day_

"So, you didn't want to compete for money?" Gwen asked, looking up at me, with her head still in my lap.

I shook my head.

"It didn't seem right, taking money for fighting illegally." I said.

"It really isn't." Gwen agreed.

"Well, what part should I go over now?" I asked.

"What part do you want to talk about?" Gwen asked.

That surprised me. I expected her to want to hear the full story.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll go over the last day of school before Christmas Break." I said.

"Alright." Gwen said.

 _Last December_

 _It was that day. December 21st, the day we get out for Christmas Break. Most of the teens were excited. And me? I was nervous as hell. Today was the day that Mr. Fargas posted the grades for our final exams. And I had no idea if I passed or not. This was going to be fun._

I walked towards Mr. Fargas's classroom and on the way there, my fellow classmates gave me looks of hate. One of them slugged me in the arm.

"What's their problem?" I asked myself.

I received more hateful glances as I walked into the classroom. I saw everyone huddled around where Mr. Fargas had posted the grades. I walked over to the wall and tried to get through so I could see my grade.

"Congratulations, you lucky son of a bitch." one of the teens said, as he walked past me, bumping me in the shoulder.

"Why the hell are people so sour today?" I asked myself, as I got a look at the paper pinned to the wall.

The list was categorized by the percentage that every student got on the final. And... I was at the top? According to the list, I had aced the final with a 97.5 percent! But that had to be a mistake! I couldn't have done that well!

I left the list posted on the wall, ignored the threats made to me and walked up to Mr. Fargas's desk, where he was having his morning coffee. He looked up at me, as I made my way up to his desk.

"Mr. Tennyson." he said, greeting me.

"Good morning Mr. Fargas. Um, there seems to be a mistake." I said. "On the list, it says I aced the final with a 97.5."

Mr. Fargas nodded.

"No mistake. It's the truth, Mr. Tennyson. You aced my final." he said. "Even I was surprised when I graded your test. And pleasantly so!"

"I just don't understand how I passed..." I said.

"It doesn't matter. You passed and are out of danger of failing my class." Mr. Fargas said. "Congratulations, Mr. Tennyson."

"I- Thank you, Sir." I said, stuttering a little.

"There is something else." Mr. Fargas replied.

"Yes, Sir?" I asked.

"I know today is the last day of school before the break, but I'd like you to come see me after school." Mr. Fargas said. "I have something that I'd like to discuss with you."

"Um, okay. Yeah. Sure. I'll come by after school." I said.

"Thank you." Mr. Fargas replied.

"Sure." I said, as I walked off, away from his desk.

 _I saw Kevin for the last time that year on that day. We met so my name could be officially removed from the roster. I wouldn't see him again until January._

"And that's it." Kevin said. "You are removed from the roster. You won't be hearing about the fight club from me anymore."

"Good. Let's keep it that way." I said, as I turned and walked away.

"Wait, that's it?!" Kevin exclaimed. "You have nothing else to say to me?!"

I turned my head, so I could him from the corner of my eye.

"You fucked up Kevin. We're done for the rest of the year." I said, as I continued walking away. "Next year is your chance to undo your mistakes."

 _That was that. I left Kevin there and later that day, I went to talk to Mr. Fargas about whatever he wanted to see me about._

"Hey, Mr. Fargas." I said, as I walked into his classroom. "What did you want to see me about?"

"Mr. Tennyson, hello. Please, take a seat." he said, as he got up from his desk.

I did as he told me and sat down at my desk, waiting for what he had to say.

"Mr. Tennyson, I've thought about this for a while now. And I've made my decision." Mr. Fargas said, as he gave me a serious look. "I'd like you in my AP Chemistry class next semester."

That surprised me.

"AP Chemistry?" I asked. "Isn't that the advanced class?"

"It is." Mr. Fargas replied.

"Why would you want me in your AP class? I nearly flunked your regular course!" I exclaimed.

"But you didn't. You passed and you recovered with Godspeed, Mr. Tennyson." Mr. Fargas said. "Ben, look-"

 _That was the first time he'd ever called me by my first name. He usually called his students by Mr. or Miss. and then their last name. I guess that changed because he wanted to tell me something important._

"- look, you've come a long way. I've seen how smart you can be. And I think a student of your intelligence belongs in my AP Chemistry class." he finished speaking.

 _When I thought about it, I realized he was kind of right. I had what it took to be in that class._

"You're right, Mr. Fargas. I have shown more intelligence and I have paid more attention lately." I said. "If you really want me to be in your AP class next semester, I'll do it."

"Splendid!" Mr. Fargas replied, as he reached to his desk for a piece of paper.

He handed it to me.

"If you fill this out now and take it to the counseling office before it closes, they'll see to it that an appropriate class is traded out for AP Chemistry next semester." he said. "Thank you, Mr. Tennyson."

"No problem, Mr. Fargas." I replied, as I began to fill out the form.

Once I had it filled out, I waved good-bye to Mr. Fargas and took the form down to counseling. And that was that.

 _Present Day_

"Mr. Fargas wanted you in his AP Chemistry class?" Gwen asked. "And you aced your final? That's amazing!"

"That's just it. I feel like because of the watch, I cheated the system." I said.

"The watch helped you, Ben! If it weren't for it, you would have flunked out of school!" she said. "You have a lot to thank that watch for!"

"Yeah? Like what?" I asked, not meeting her eyes.

"Well, if you didn't get that thing, we'd never be doing this." she said, before sitting up a little to kiss me.

After she kissed me, I gave her a dreamy look.

"Gwen, you never disappoint." I said.

"Telling a girl exactly what she wanted to hear?" she asked, as she smirked. "That's more like it."

"You know it." I said. "What do you want to hear about next?"

"Whatever you want to tell." Gwen said.

"Alright, well, how about I tell you about my first encounter with a villain later on in Christmas Break?" I asked.

"Sure. Which villain was it?" Gwen asked.

"Do you at all remember the uh, crazy zombie clown, Zombozo?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Well, that's who it was." I said.

 _Last December_

 _Zombozo was the first ever super-freak, villain, whatever you want to call him, that I faced. He was also a weird case. You know how Kevin is an energy sponge? Well, Zombozo and Kevin are alike in that sense. I call Zombozo an energy vampire. When he first met, he got ahold of me and sucked some happiness out me, causing me to forget certain happy things that happened in my life._

 _I spotted him and his crew while patrolling a day or two before Christmas._

I was zipping across the rooftops as XLR8.

"Okay, so I got my mom's Christmas present. Now all I have to do is get back home." I said to myself, as I leaped across to another rooftop.

Just then, I heard some commotion nearby.

"Noises on the night before Christmas Eve." I pondered. "I wonder what's up?"

I parked myself on the rooftop I was on and looked around for the source of the noise. Down the road, don't ask why, I saw a van being loaded. Surrounding the van were four people. A buff looking guy, a chick with crazy looking red hair, a guy with some kind of mouth guard and a guy wearing a dress suit, as well as a top hat.

I couldn't tell what the guy with the top hat looked like, as he was shrouded in the shadows.

"Come on, come on!" the guy said. "Get those boxes into the van! Quickly! I want to get back to the circus so I can assemble my machine!"

"This guy is trying to put together parts for a machine!" I whispered. "Whatever it is, it seems sketchy and I can't let it stand!"

As his cronies continued to work, I leaped off of the roof to surprise them.

"Alright, you had your fun!" I said, as I landed on the van. "Now you have to deal with me!"

"What in the hell are you?!" the guy in the top hat exclaimed.

I could see his face clearly now. He had pale, white skin. Like a vampire!

"Big mistake, whatever you are!" the chick said, as part of her hair formed a tentacle and lashed out at me.

I dodged it and come up behind her, striking her.

"Just so you know, I didn't want to do that!" I exclaimed.

The strong man tried next to grab me, but I zipped behind him and started kicking him in the back until he fell over. And to stop him from falling forward, I zipped back around and kicked him up and away from me.

"Good night!" I exclaimed. "Oh my God! I'd never think being a super hero would be so easy!"

Next, the guy with the mouth guard came at me. I tried to get around him, but he was faster than me, in pulling his trick at least. He took off his mouth guard and breathed on me. At first, nothing happened. But then, my talons began to burn away!

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, as I waved my hand about, until the burning stopped.

The guy began laughing as I recovered.

"Go to sleep." I said, before kicking him in the chin, knocking him down.

"You are a very irritating creature, whatever you are." the guy in the top hat said.

"You're one to talk!" I exclaimed. "Who are you supposed to be? Morbius the Living Vampire?"

"I am Zombozo!" the man said, as he pointed his hands at me. "And you've made a big mistake!"

Just then, some kind of tentacle things launched at me from the sleeves of his coat. I dodged the easily, since I was XLR8.

"I'm here!" I said, as I moved five feet to the left.

Zombozo tried to counteract, but I was too fast.

"No, I'm _here_!" I said, as I appeared at ten feet to the right.

Once again, Zombozo tried, but I was faster.

"I'm sorry, I must be a real pain in the butt!" I exclaimed.

Zombozo tried for the final time and once again, I zipped away.

"Oh, please." I said, mocking his ability.

But then, my luck ran out. The watch timed out and I was in my human form again. I let out a nervous chuckle, as I backed up away from Zombozo.

"I can't believe it! He's just a kid!" Zombozo exclaimed, as he looked at me.

"Um, hi?" I asked in a nervous voice.

Zombozo's surprised face reverted back to that of a serious face.

"No matter. I still hunger and I must feed!" he said, before launching his tentacles, which wrapped around my upper arms and pulling me towards him. "Get over here!"

As soon as he pulled me close enough, he took my head in his hands and just held me like that. That's when I noticed that Zombozo had fangs. I expected him to bite me like an actual vampire. But he didn't.

Instead, his hands began to glow a sickly green color, and I slowly began to feel drained. But I didn't feel light headed or sluggish or anything like that. Instead I felt sad and bitter.

My memories - good memories - that I had with my brief relationship with Kai flashed before my eyes. Memories of the few times we kissed, memories of our dates, like going to movies or carnivals. I had felt so happy then. And now, as these memories flashed before my eyes, I felt cold and bitter.

I let out screams of agony, but it only seemed to pleasure Zombozo.

A few more seconds of this went on, of him sucking me dry of my happiness it seemed. And then, the memories faded into nothingness. And then, Zombozo dropped me.

"Don't worry kid. I wasn't going to suck you completely dry." he said. "I just needed enough to get by."

I just sat there, shivering, feeling like it was cold out. Don't get me wrong, it was cold out, but now it felt like it was a hundred degrees below zero. I slowly got up, still feeling cold.

"W-what did y-you do t-t-to me?" I asked, as I shuddered.

"I need to suck the happiness out of people to survive kid." Zombozo said. "And that's what I just did."

"C-Cold. So i-incredibly cold." I said, as I continued to shudder.

"Don't fret, kid. You'll live." Zombozo said. "Right after feeling cold and sick, though."

I slowly stood back up and the alien watch turned green again. I activated it and turned the dial until I found Diamondhead.

"I-I-I'm taking y-you down!" I exclaimed, as I slammed down onto the watch.

"Bring it, kid!" Zombozo exclaimed.

I don't know if it was because I was so bitter or if it was purely out of rage, but I beat the absolute shit out of him. I knocked a few teeth out (none of the fangs), gave him a black eye, bruised up his face and left him strung up on a light pole by his tattered suit coat.

"You can stay here until the police get you and your people." I said, as I looked up at him.

Zombozo made no effort to speak back, as his eyes fluttered closed. It was over. My first fight with a super villain was done for. And I needed to get home. I felt feverish and I didn't know how much longer I could stand for.

 _Present Day_

"You called Zombozo an energy vampire." Gwen said, as we sat in bed together. "What exactly does being an energy vampire entail?"

"He feeds off of the energy that a person's happiness gives off. And when he feeds off of that energy, he robs a person of their happiness, and he makes them cold and bitter for a limited time." I said. "When Zombozo used that ability on me, it erased all of my good memories of Kai. Poof. Gone. And it made me bitter for a couple of days."

"Hmm." she said, as she snuggled up against me.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just really tired." she said, as she yawned.

"Really? But it's only 8:30!" I said. "It's not even fully dark out yet."

"What can I say? It's been a long day." Gwen replied. "You can continue your story now. Forgive me if I fall asleep. I am tired."

"Okay." I said, as I thought about what to talk about next.

 _Last December_

 _Christmas Day. Every child's favorite day of the year. And it was usually my favorite day of the year, that year especially. That year was different. Every single day leading up to Christmas, when I walked past the tree, there were only two presents with my name on it under it. And I felt betrayed when that didn't change on Christmas morning. Well, it didn't last that long._

"Hey Dad, why is the door in the basement locked?" I asked, as I came up the stairs.

"Don't worry about it for right now." he said.

"Okay." I said, as I walked into the living room to sit down on the couch. "Whatever. This Christmas blows."

I whispered that last part. A few minutes later, my dad spoke up.

"You want to get your presents now?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure." I said.

"Okay, let's go then." my dad said. "Sandra, I'm taking him to his present!"

"Okay! You two be careful!" my mom called from another room.

I didn't even have time to ask my dad what we were doing, as he moved towards the door.

"Dad, where are we going?" I asked, as we got outside.

"To your Christmas present." my dad said.

"Why do we need to go get it?" I asked, as we walked to the car.

"No, no, no. We're not going to get it." my dad said, as he got in the car. "We're going _to_ it."

"Why do we have to go to it? Did you buy me a building for Christmas?" I asked.

"Something like that." my dad said, as he started the car.

 _Later_

Dad brought me up to a medium sized building. We got out of the car and walked up to the door, where he unlocked it with a key.

He opened the door and stepped in, me following a few seconds later. I was stunned with what I saw. A few flat screen tvs, a few gaming consoles, a punching bag and a whole punch of exercise machinery and gear.

"Dad, what is all this?" I asked.

"Your mother and I have noticed that you've been working out lately. Doing push ups and sit ups. So, we wanted to give you place where you could do it or a place to hang out with your friends." he said.

"Oh my God, how much did this cost?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're happy." he said.

"Oh my God, Dad. Thank you." I said.

"No problem, son. You can come here to train and work out whenever you like." he said. "Now let's get back home, you have three more presents."

 _Later_

When we got back home, he unlocked the door in the basement and opened it, to show me a fully put together lab. Coming with a microscope, a filing cabinet, a few tables, a chemistry set and other scientific goodies.

I was in shock. I couldn't believe this. I wasn't disappointed, just shocked.

"Wow." I said.

"When Mr. Fargas emailed us, telling us that you agreed to take his AP Chemistry class, your mother and I figured you could use all the help you could get." Dad said. "So, that's what all this is."

"Wow. Just wow. This is amazing." I said.

"If you think _that_ is amazing, wait til you open your last present." Dad said. "Come on."

He closed the door, not locking it this time and we went back upstairs. I sat down on the couch with my two presents and he instructed that I open the bigger one first, so I did. And when I opened it, it turned out to be a comic book.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume Seventeen: Clone Saga. And it was signed by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, the writer and penciller of the comic!

"Whoa!" I said, as I looked up at them.

I had lost my other copy of the comic when I was younger and now I had a new copy.

"We went to Comic-Con to get that signed for you, Ben." my father said.

"And you better take good care of it." my mother chimed in.

"I will. I promise!" I exclaimed, as I continued to admire it.

"Um, your last present, Ben?" my mom asked.

I had almost forgotten I had one last present. I opened up the last present, which was a small box. I opened it, to find a set of car keys.

"Wait, what?" I asked, as I looked up at my grinning mother and father.

"Come with me, son." my dad said.

I got up and followed him to the door out to the garage. He turned on the light to the garage and in it, was a nice car, that was all black, except for a bright green stripe down the middle.

"Wow!" I said, as I dropped my keys and comic book. "A car?! I got a car for Christmas?!"

"Merry Christmas, pal." my dad said.

I was in awe. It was the best Christmas ever.

 _Present Day_

"And it was the best Christmas ever." I said.

I looked at Gwen, to see she was asleep, lying on her side of the bed.

"Wow." I whispered. "She must have fell asleep a while ago."

I just sat there for a while, not knowing what to do. I wasn't tired, but I couldn't just leave Gwen alone in bed and go off and do something else. Just then, I heard the earth-shattering boom that accompanied a clap of thunder.

I listened, barely able to hear it began raining outside. I looked over at Gwen, who stirred, but didn't wake up. The clear, full moon night had just become a rainy night. I continued my lonely crusade hour, after hour, after hour. Eventually, I reached the point where my eyes would stay open no longer.

I snuggled up next to Gwen and closed my eyes. Then I fell fast asleep and began to dream.

A/N: And that's it for this chapter! The end of the Origins arc! I may possibly continue the arc later down the line, but I doubt it. If the end of the chapter seemed a bit off, like something will go down in the next chapter, than trust your instincts! What'll happen in the next chapter? Ya'll just have to find out in a month! Please follow, favorite and review! See you next time!


	40. Update

Update:

Hey what's up, people? Um, I think you can tell that this isn't a normal chapter. It is an update. And it's not an update that I ever wanted to make. But I guess if I didn't have to make this update, then we all wouldn't be here, right? Anyway...

I don't want this update to be very long, so I'll just get to the point. If you live in the United States, then you should already know that on December 14th, the FCC repealed Net Neutrality. And if you don't live in the U.S., then I'm pretty sure this doesn't affect you.

Either way, in the country I live in, Net Neutrality is now gone. And that isn't good news for me. And you might be wondering why I'm even making an update about this. Well, I'll get to it pretty soon. For those of you who don't know what Net Neutrality is, you can either google it for yourself or just listen to the explanation I'm about to give you.

Net Neutrality is the concept that Internet service providers (or ISPs) should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.

So, what does this mean for me, a teenager living in the U.S.? And what does it mean for anyone else who doesn't live here, in the U.S.? I honestly don't know why I asked that last question. It most likely won't affect any of you who live outside of the U.S.

Anyway, _now_ to the point. It is now legal (in the U.S.) for ISPs to "fracture the internet" and charge more for the leftover pieces. If you're a gamer and know what microtransactions in games are, than you might get this. The whole internet is now basically a giant f***ing microtransaction.

ISPs can now charge higher prices for high speed internet and that's more of a disclaimer for me. That doesn't threaten me as a Fanfiction writer. Sure, it may take me slower to post, but I can live with that.

What I am _worried_ about is the fact that ISPs can now legally block any website for any reason. I'm sure the content on any website would have to be offensive or harmful to them, but I don't really know.

So, I'm sure that a few of the websites that I visit on a daily basis are bound to be blocked. I understand that. But the website I'm most scared of being blocked, is this one. I love this website and I love writing. This website lets me do just that. I love writing and I love getting feedback from all my followers (the few that I have right now).

I don't want this website to be blocked. But I have no control that possibility. If this website does get blocked and I can no longer use it, that's just bad for me. So, I hope it doesn't happen. But it's not hopeless. Congress has sixty working days to review and overrule the FCC's proposal. Which I hope they do.

But in any case, whether they do or do not overrule it, I can live with either decision. Because either way, I don't think this change will be permanent. That would be just stupid.

I just wanted to let you guys know that if I'm in active for a month and a half or longer, it's not my fault. I wouldn't abandon this thing and leave my stories unfinished. I've been doing this thing for almost four years and I love it. I don't intend to quit anytime soon.

Obviously, the effects of this won't take place until next year (unless Congress overrules this) and for now, I'm safe. But like I said, if I go inactive for a long period of time, it has nothing to do with me. I promise you that.

As for those who don't live in America, I'm happy for you. I'm happy that you don't have to suffer through this and face the hurdles that the repeal of Net Neutrality will put Americans through.

I'm going to post this on all of my active stories. I want it to be seen by those who enjoy the content that I put out.

So, I good luck to you people who don't live here, I hope you don't get hit with this too, godspeed, and with that, I hope that I won't be forced to stop posting!


	41. Chapter 40: Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 40: Afraid Of The Dark

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note_

* Hello and welcome to the special extra long chapter forty! This story has come a long way since I published it ten months ago and I just want to take a second to thank you guys. Seriously, thank you to all of the reviews, views, favorites and follows. You guys are the best!

* You may have noticed that I added the words "Volume One" to the title of this story. And I should have done that a while ago. I didn't want this all to be one super long story and once I began mentioning comic book lore in the story, I began to treat it like it was a comic book, if that makes sense. And if it doesn't, that's okay.

* So anyway, Volume Two will be published sometime in early 2018. I hope. And then Volume Three, which is going to be it's own kind of thing (you'll eventually see what I mean by that), won't be out until probably winter of 2018 or early 2019. We'll just have to see. And Volume Three will be the longest volume, as well as the last, in this "trilogy" if you want to call it that. I want to post at least 160 chapters in Volume Three before I decide to end the story. That's how big we're talking.

* So, what's going on with this chapter? And why does it have a title that says something spooky to the reader? Just find out.

 _Ben_

I don't know where I was. I must have been floating in some kind of void. I was just floating in some kind of blackness. Like I said, some kind of void. I came to a stop, resting on an unseen object.

All of a sudden, members of the Insidious Seven appeared all around me. They were all there, except for Ghostfreak. Vilgax, Zombozo, Hex, Sixsix, Kevin and Savage Animo. It freaked me out when they began to sing in a really creepy tone.

"He's coming for you, he's near, beware, beware, be a very wary bear!" they chanted.

As the dream went on, the six villains chased me around the void, continuing to chant that creepy song. Eventually their speed increased along with the pitch of the song.

 _..._

My eyes eventually snapped open and I sat up in bed, rather quickly. I was breathing heavily and I was sweating quite a bit. As I tried to catch my breath, I looked at Gwen, who was still asleep on her side of the bed.

I listened and could tell that it was still raining outside. I tossed back the covers on my side and got out of bed. I left the room and went across the hall into the bathroom. I flipped the light on and turned on the faucet, producing a stream of cold water.

I cupped my hands underneath the stream and doused my sweaty face in it. I turned off the faucet and grabbed a hand towel to dry off my face. As I did that, I remembered there was one thing missing from the dream.

 _Ghostfreak!_

I dropped the towel and sprinted out of the bathroom, not bothering to turn off the light. I sprinted towards the basement stairs and down them, flipping the light on as I went. I cautiously approached the storage room and opened the door, flipping the light on as I walked in.

I walked over to one of the boxes and opened it, to see that the front of Ghostfreak's skull was still in there. Right where I had left it. But it was covered in dust.

 _That's impossible! I only put it in there yesterday!_

I picked up the front of the skull and blew off the dust. Bad news was, I inhaled some of it by accident, which caused me to cough a little. I coughed more than a little, to be honest.

"He's gone. You do know that, right?" I heard Gwen ask from behind me. "I fried him. There's nothing left of him but dust and echoes."

I looked at her, having no idea that she was behind me.

"I know." I said, letting out a sigh. "It's just that I had a nightmare where the members of the Insidious Seven chased me around, chanting that Ghostfreak was near and that he was coming for me."

She put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a look of sympathy.

"When he was still around, you weren't sleeping well. And you still haven't recovered." she said. "You need to come back to bed."

"You're right." I said, as I nodded. "I'm sorry."

And then, the worst possible thing that could happen happened. The power went out.

"Must be the storm." I said. "A wire must have been downed. Either that, or a transformer blew."

"Wanna go check it out?" Gwen asked.

"What other choice do we have?" I asked.

Together, we walked towards the stairs. Or at least, where we presumed the stairs to be. Something about the darkness was unnerving. I think I was still scared after the nightmare.

I swear Gwen must have been able to read my mind. Either that, or she needed reassurance, as she took my hand as we made our way to the stairs. We slowly walked up the stairs and back to her room.

We both put our shoes on and I lent her my jacket to wear, since it was raining. We both grabbed the flashlights that my parents kept in a drawer in the kitchen in case of power outtage and then headed outside. We turned on the flashlights once we were outside and walked to the nearest power line.

We both shined our lights up to the power line, to see that there were no downed power lines.

"I don't get it." Gwen said.

"There's also something else." I said, as I shined my flashlight across the street.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"We're the only ones on the block without power." I said, as I looked down the street, seeing that a few of my neighbors still had their lights on.

"Um, what does that mean?" she asked.

"I don't know." I said, as I walked around to the side of the house.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Stay here. I'll be right back." I said, as I continued to walk off.

"Famous last words." Gwen said, as I heard her following me.

"Oh, shut up." I said. "We're not in a horror movie."

I walked around to the side of the house, where the electrical box was. I put the flashlight in my mouth to hold it as I opened the electrical box. Once I had opened it, I saw that no wires had been cut.

"What is it?" Gwen asked.

"No wires were cut." I said, but my voice was too muffled for her to understand.

"What?" Gwen asked again.

I took the flashlight out of my mouth and closed the electrical box.

"No wires were cut." I said.

Gwen said nothing. Out of the corner of my eye just then, I saw something next to the electrical box. It had a structure kind of like the electrical box, with glowing green buttons. Whatever it was, it wasn't supposed to be there. I reached to take it off of there, but stopped when a nervous feeling came to my gut.

"Gwen, get in the house." I urged her.

"Ben, what's-"

I turned to look at her, beginning to get angry.

"What are you deaf?! I told you to get in the house, so do it!" I said. "Listen to me! You need to get in the house! Now, go!"

Gwen looked at me with anger in her eyes, but ran nonetheless. Once she was gone, I looked around, shining my flashlight in all directions.

"I know you're out here." I said, raising my voice. "And I'm not afraid of you. Whoever you are, whatever you are, you don't belong here. Get off of my property before you do something stupid."

I got to response whatsoever. I felt even more scared, if that was possible. I ran back to the house after Gwen and when I got inside, closed the door and locked it.

"What is with you?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Something's not right. It's not the storm." I said. "Those wires weren't cut. And there's a device on the electrical box. Someone wanted our power to go out. I just can't figure out who."

"Ben, you're looking too far into it." she said. "You need to go back to bed!"

"I'm not going back to bed." I said, as I walked towards the hallway to the basement stairs.

"Where are you going?!" she exclaimed as she followed me.

I turned around to face her from my place at the top of the basement stairs.

"Look, Gwen. I know that you were the one who killed Ghostfreak. I get it! And I can't thank you enough for ridding the world of that monstrosity!" I said. "But after all of that, I just can't. It feels like Ghostfreak isn't really gone!"

Gwen might have been ready to say something, but she was beat to it. Just then, I heard something I hoped I'd never hear again. I heard the cackling.

"That's because I'm not!" I heard Ghostfreak say.

I looked around in fear and before I could ask Gwen anything, I felt a slashing pain in my stomach. The pain took my breath away and then I fell backwards down the stairs.

"Ben!" I heard Gwen call as I neared the bottom.

"It's not possible." I whispered. "You're dead."

"The difficult thing about being a ghost?" Ghostfreak asked. "You can't kill one."

"You're dead." I repeated. "You can't be here."

"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, as I heard her coming down the stairs.

"Your girlfriend's coming." Ghostfreak said. "We'll continue this later."

I never saw him, I just heard his voice. A light shined down on me, where I was downed on the floor.

"Come on, get up." Gwen said, as she helped me up.

Once I was standing back up, it didn't take long for me to fall back down onto by butt. Gwen got on her knees and looked me over.

"What happened?" she asked, as she touched my abdomen.

 _My abdomen?_

I looked down at my shirt, to see three long slash marks in my T-shirt.

 _Ghostfreak had actually slashed through my shirt!_

I didn't acknowledge the feeling of her fingers on my bare stomach this time, I was in too much pain to notice it.

"How'd it happen?" she asked.

I ignored her question. It was my turn to question her.

"Did you hear it?" I asked. "Did you hear him?"

"Did I hear what?" Gwen asked.

"Ghostfreak." I mumbled, as I continued to hurt. "He told me he wasn't really gone. Slashed me and caused me to fall down the stairs. Didn't you hear him?"

Gwen said nothing at first.

"Gwen!" I said, trying to get her attention.

"Ben?" she asked, as she touched my forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I feel fine. Why?" I asked.

"Ben, I didn't hear anything." she said. "You weren't slashed. You must have done it yourself or something. You just backed up and fell down the stairs!"

 _What? No! But I heard Ghostfreak! I felt him slash me! He was there!_

"But Ghostfreak-" I began to speak, but Gwen interrupted.

"Is dead! He's gone, Ben! He's gone and he's not here!" Gwen said. "You haven't gotten a good nights sleep since the Insidious Seven was still around! You need to get back to bed!"

"No! I can't go back to bed! Not when he's threatening me!" I said.

"Who? Who is threatening you?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Ghostfreak." I whispered, as I continued to be in pain.

"Ben, listen to me!" she said, as she shook me by the shoulders. "Ghostfreak is dead! You hear me?! Ghostfreak is dead!"

"But I heard him!" I said.

"And I told you that you needed to go back to bed!" Gwen protested.

"I'm not going back to bed, I'm terrified!" I exclaimed.

"Of what? Ghostfreak?" Gwen asked. "I already told you, he's d-"

"No he's not. He's here and he's stalking me." I said. "He's waiting for me to be alone!"

"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, quit acting like a ten-year-old who's afraid of the dark." she said. "Ghostfreak is dead. I won't say it again."

"He's not dead. Not going to bed." I repeated. "And _I_ won't say it again."

"Fine! I won't make you go back to bed." Gwen replied.

We sat there in silence for several minutes.

"Look, if we're going to sit here all night, I'd prefer to talk while we do it." she said, as she placed the flashlight a foot or two away from us, pointing between us so we could see each other's faces.

"Okay. And what about?" I asked.

"Can you finish your story?" she asked.

"No." I said. "You fell asleep while I was telling the last of it. I don't feel like retelling it right now."

"Oh." she said.

She was disappointed. I could tell. It was in her voice.

"Well, we've gone over my origin story." I said. "Now it's your turn. What's your story?"

"What do you mean? I don't have an origin story." she said.

"Every hero has an origin story. Mine was getting the Omnitrix. Albedo's was a reformed villain helping out his former worst enemy." I said.

"What is Albedo again?" Gwen asked.

"That's a very long story that I don't have the time and patience for." I said. "And about every hero having an origin story, how did Lucky Girl come to be?"

"What do you mean how?" Gwen asked. "I wanted to be closer to you at the time I didn't know your identity, so I came up with the guise of Lucky Girl."

"But you didn't get those powers overnight, did you?" I asked.

"No." Gwen said.

"Okay, so how did it happen?" I asked.

"What do you want to know?" Gwen asked.

"Let's start with the amulet or jewel thing. Where'd you get it?" I asked. "You didn't steal it, did you?"

"No." Gwen said. "I'd never steal something, Ben."

"Okay. Then would you kindly tell me where you got it?" I asked.

Gwen smirked at me.

"Is that a reference to BioShock?" she asked, still smirking.

 _Shit. I said "would you kindly", didn't I?_

"Not an intentional reference." I said. "So, where'd you get it?"

"My mother. Before she sent me off here this summer, she handed me the jewel, which yes, was sewn into a belt, just like it is for me." Gwen said. "She told me if I ever felt like I was in danger, that the jewel would protect me. So, I did use it. But not because I was in danger. I guess she didn't count on me falling for you and wanting to get closer did she?"

I ignored that last comment.

"Where did _she_ get it?" I asked.

"She mentioned that it was a family heirloom. She said nothing else." Gwen said. "She just handed it to me and told me to only use it in emergencies."

"Okay, that handles the jewel. What about that leather jumpsuit that you wear?" I asked. "And the mask?"

"What does it matter? I bought that myself." Gwen said.

"Yeah, but where did you buy it?" I asked.

Gwen said nothing.

"Oh, come on Gwen." I said. "The worst thing you could say is that you got it from an adult shop."

Gwen said nothing, but I saw her blushing bright red.

"Oh Gwen, please don't tell me you didn't!" I said.

The blush stayed on her face.

"Gwen!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, okay! I didn't buy it from an adult shop, but I, uh, did buy it from a costume store." Gwen said.

"Okay, so why did you blush when I mentioned adult shop?" I asked.

Gwen sighed.

"Okay. It was advertised as a slutty Black Cat costume." she said.

A huge knot grew in my throat, making it difficult for me to swallow. I began to grunt, struggling to swallow and get a breath of fresh air.

"Ben?" she asked in a worried tone.

I finally swallowed the knot and let out a breath of fresh air.

"I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in you." I said.

"I beg your pardon?" Gwen asked.

"Gwen, you could do better than a slutty Black Cat costume!" I said. "Why did you have to go and do that?"

"Ben, I didn't have my own leather jumpsuit. I needed to go somewhere to get it." she said. "I didn't wear the suit like it was intended to be worn, like with the front of it zipped down. I had the zipper all the way up. I just didn't count on it being so damn tight on the body and showing off my curves."

"That's not the only thing it showed off. At least starting the second night we were out." I mused.

Gwen looked ashamed of me.

"Okay, so a little bit of my _cleavage_ was showing." Gwen admitted, her voice cracking when she said that word.

"Can you not say that word? It's a tad uncomfortable." I said.

"No kidding. We haven't been together for even two days now and you're already pointing out each other's "assets"." Gwen said. "At least a couple more weeks. Or months before you can start mentioning those things or anything to do with them at all."

"I'm sorry. But you should be sorry, too. That night you threw yourself at me." I said. "You unzipped your jumpsuit a little and you practically urged me to, well, you know."

She looked at me with an angry look.

"I know, Ben. I didn't know who you were then. I promise, I wouldn't through myself at you now." she said. "I am sorry."

"I know." I said, as I got onto all fours and began to crawl over to her.

"Ben," Gwen said, as she smirked. "what are you up to?"

"Nothing." I whispered, as our lips met.

She smiled against my lips, as she reached up to touch my chin with her hand. She eventually held my chin and I eventually took it a step further. I gently pushed her down onto the floor and continued to kiss her as I laid down on top of her. We didn't take it further than that.

Although, we got as far into it as we could without crossing one another's boundaries. I think we had an unspoken agreement. We stayed like that for a while, until I heard a thundering knock on the front door upstairs. I pulled away from the kiss and looked up towards the stairs, still holding myself up above Gwen.

"Why does everyone always have to ruin a perfectly good moment?!" I exclaimed.

Gwen gently pushed me off of her and looked at me.

"Who could that be this late at night? At midnight, mind you?" she asked.

"I don't know." I said, as I got up, giving her my hand. "Let's find out."

I ran up the stairs with the flashlight in hand, Gwen following closely behind me. We got up to the living room and I went to the front door. I unlocked the door and opened it without hesitation.

Standing at the door, was familiar silver haired teen, with red eyes.

"We have a problem." Albedo said. "It's Ghostfreak. He's back."

 _Half An Hour Later_

"So, you had the same dream that I did?" I asked. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know man. The watch created me from your DNA template." Albedo said. "So, maybe somewhere in that contract we were signed on for shared dreams."

"Possibly. I can't really say that I agree with you." I said. "I still can't fully understand how you came to be."

"Neither can I." Albedo said.

Gwen sat patiently in the corner, as Albedo and I discussed the matter that Ghostfreak was some how back from the grave.

"But how could he be back?" I asked. "Gwen fried him with the lights on the football field!"

"I don't know." Albedo said, as he shrugged, leaning forward. "You don't think that Alien Guy is involved, do you?"

I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"You can stop that now. She knows." I said.

"Gwen knows? Knows what?" Albedo asked.

Gwen sighed, as she got up.

"I'll spell it out for you." she said, as she walked over to me.

"What are yo-" I began to ask her, but she interrupted me by kissing me.

My eyes widened at the revelation that she was kissing me while Albedo was watching. After a few seconds, she pulled away and winked at me, before going back to her spot.

"Okay... So you two are together?" Albedo asked.

"And she knows about Alien Guy." I said.

"Oh! Well congratulations, guys!" Albedo exclaimed.

"Thanks." Gwen said, answering for the both of us.

"Anyway, back to the topic at hand." Albedo said. "Ghostfreak is back. But how could he be?"

"I don't know, man." I said. "But it doesn't make sense, seeing that I have the front of his skull?"

"You have the skull?" Albedo asked.

"Yeah." I said, as I got up. "I'll go get it so you can see it for yourself."

"Okay. Not really necessary, but okay." Albedo said.

"Take the flashlight, Ben." Gwen said, as she handed me a flashlight.

"Oh, I'll be fine." I said, as I walked towards the basement stairs. "Be back in a minute."

I walked down the stairs and into the basement.

 _The dark basement. The dark, creepy basement. The dark, spook-_

"Okay, stop it! You're not five years old, Ben!" I whispered to myself.

I stepped up to the open door and was about to head in when I heard it.

"Ben," a cold voice called out. "you're mine! I will peel the flesh of your bones!"

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Nope, nope, nope. Not tonight!" I said as I ran into the room as quick as I could.

I found the skull pretty quickly and got it out of the box. I ran back out and turned around quickly to close the door. Now, don't ask me how, but the door closed rather quickly. And on two of my _fingers_.

"Oh, fuck!" I exclaimed with pain.

It was then that I heard a cold cackling laugh, and then nothing else. Seconds later, I heard footsteps from upstairs coming towards the stairs to the basement. Albedo and Gwen were down the stairs in seconds.

"What happened?" Gwen exclaimed with worry, as she ran over to me.

"Ow!" I croaked out, as she took my hand. "Fingers. Door slammed. Ow!"

"Ouch. Sounds like you should be more careful, dude." Albedo said, as he chuckled.

"Oh, shut up!" I exclaimed. "It's not my fault that Ghostfreak slammed the door on my fingers!"

That didn't make Gwen very happy.

"For the last time, Ghostfreak is dead!" she said. "You're just paranoid, Ben!"

"Okay, that may be true." I said, as I held my hand. "But that doesn't explain why I've been hearing his voice."

"Wimp." Albedo said.

"Hey, I take offense to that!" I said, as I looked at him.

"Tease!" Albedo exclaimed as he laughed.

"I swear that you're just paranoid, Ben." she replied. "I really think that you should go back to bed."

"Not happening." I said in an agonized tone, holding my hand still.

"Well, then what should we do?" Albedo asked.

I thought about it for a moment.

"We need to got see Grandpa Max." I said. "He'll know what to do."

"Um Ben, hello? It's past midnight!" Gwen said. "We shouldn't go out to go ask him what's going on!"

"I don't care. I know for a fact that he can help." I said. "Let's go."

Gwen let out a sigh.

"Fine." she said. "Let's go."

 _Sometime Later_

"So, let me get this straight. An Ectonurite that you call "Ghostfreak" was alive within the Omnitrix, escaped and began to terrorize you, but Gwen killed it with light." Grandpa Max said. "And now, you claim that he is back from the dead and is stalking you. But no one but you can see or hear him. Is that right?"

"Yes." I said. "Don't you remember him, Grandpa?! You were among the people there the night he tried to kill me!"

"Ben, I try not to remember what happened that night." he said. "Now, I get why you're here. I still don't quite understand how you have a silver-haired, red-eyed wannabe clone."

"Hey!" Albedo exclaimed. "I take offense to that! And besides, I prefer the word "brother"."

I didn't really like him using the word brother, but Albedo and I did have a special bond it seemed. I mean, he did take a bullet for me. Bullet proof vest or not.

"And Gwen being Lucky Girl." Grandpa added. "We'll talk about that later, young lady."

"Grandpa?" Gwen asked in a fearful tone, before looking at me.

 _Did you tell him?_ I mouthed to her.

 _No_ , she mouthed back to me.

"So, what do you expect me to do?" he asked.

I handed him the front of Ghostfreak's skull.

"Analyze that. It's his skull. And if he really is alive, than I need to know how he can be alive if I still have his skull." I said.

"Okay..." Grandpa Max replied, taking it from me.

I took a breath as I shuddered.

"Say, what's this on the surface of the skull?" Grandpa Max asked.

"It's some kind of dust." I said. "I accidentally inhaled some of it when I blew it off."

"Hmm. Well, let me run this under the microscope." he said, as he went over to the small built in lab he had in the R.V.

I waited as he analyzed the skull underneath the microscope. After a few minutes, he gave a startling revelation.

"Hey, Ben? This isn't dust." Grandpa Max said.

"What?" I asked with surprise. "What is it then?!"

"It's some kind of fine powder. I don't know." he said. "I'll have to run it through the lab, the tubes, the whole nine yards."

"Okay. Um, before you get to work on that, would you mind coming back to my house?" I asked. "Gwen and I found something outside that might add up to all of this."

"Sure. You woke me up at past midnight. I probably won't be getting any sleep tonight anyway." he said, as he moved towards the driver's seat. "Let's get gone, kiddies!"

"We're not kids, Grandpa Max!" Gwen complained.

"Oh, stop it." he said.

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

It was still raining, but lightly raining that is. Grandpa and I were at the electrical box on the side of the house, where the little gadget was placed.

"Yep, I recognized that device the second I saw it." he said.

"Well, what is it then?" I asked.

"It's a device that S.E.C.T. uses to cut off the power to just one installation." he said. "Or in this case, your house."

"S.E.C.T.?! Oh, fuck!" I exclaimed. "S.E.C.T. is involved in this?!"

"Watch your language." Grandpa Max replied. "And I don't know that for sure. I am going to analyze this device, too. And see if it's of S.E.C.T. origin."

He easily pulled the device off of the wall and slipped it into a plastic bag.

"Your power should work fine now." he said.

"Thanks." I said, as he walked off.

"I'll get that powder analyzed and I'll call you when I have it done." Grandpa Max replied. "Try to get some sleep. If you can."

I stood there in the rain, alone for a few minutes.

"What about me?" Albedo asked, as he came up to me.

"Where have you been sleeping?" I asked.

"Well, in rainy weather I've been sleeping in empty garbage containers." he said. "And in good weather, I slept on rooftops."

I was astonished by that fact.

"No, forget that. You're not doing that anymore." I said. "From now on, you're gonna live with Gwen and I."

Albedo looked astonished.

"But your parents-" he said.

"Will just have to accept it. We'll come up with something." I said. "Let's go in."

 _Hours Later_

I was beginning to fall asleep and that was a bad thing. I had to stay awake for as long as I could.

"Loser, loser." I began to hear a cold voice speaking to me.

My eyes popped back open as I woke back up. I sat up, alert as ever. I don't know why, but I felt the urge to go downstairs. So I made my way in that direction. I was slowly walked down the stairs, when I tripped and fell forward down the last three stairs.

"Ow!" I said, as I hit the floor. "Why do bad things always happen to me?"

And then, I heard a chilling voice.

"Would you like to know how you're gonna die?" Ghostfreak asked.

I was up in only seconds and there he was. Ghostfreak, in the "flesh", hovering only a few feet away from me.

"What? No! You're dead!" I said. "You can't be real!"

"I can, and I am." he said.

"You can't be real! I won't allow it!" I said, as I charged at him.

Amazingly, when I reached him and went to hit him, he just disappeared. I turned around, to see him behind me.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked.

I charged at him again and when I reached him, I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach, as if he had stabbed me. I kept punching at him, but it seemed with every punch I threw, I experienced more pain.

I flipped backwards and then charged at Ghostfreak again. I began throwing punches at him, as hard as I could. At the end of it all, I was left with immense amounts of pain, huffing and puffing, as well as a really high heart rate.

I dropped to my knees, having a lot of trouble trying to breathe. My heart was pounding so hard, I thought it would spring from my chest. I started coughing real bad, and then choking, as if I couldn't breathe.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time." Ghostfreak said, as I looked up to see him hovering in front of me. "The day I get to kill you."

I just looked up at him with fear. Then, he swiped his talons in front of my face and everything went black.

 _Several Hours Later_

"Ben!" I heard Gwen's voice. "Ben! Wake up, damn it!"

My eyes popped open and I sat up, realizing I was in a cold sweat. I wiped my forehead off and realized I was breathing quickly.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Four thirty in the morning, are you okay?" Gwen asked.

I looked down at my white T-shirt, to see that the front of it was ripped open. And on my chest, all over the damn place were red scratches. And when I looked at my arms, they were there too.

"You have a few on your face, too." Gwen commented.

I didn't comment on it.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You tell me." Gwen said, as she crossed her arms. "Grandpa called and said he found out what you needed him to find out and that he was coming over. I looked all through the house for you and found you down here, looking like you had been mauled."

"Ghostfreak attacked me again!" I exclaimed.

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Please, not that again." she said.

"Gwen, I'm being serious!" I said.

"So am I! I am sick of hearing you complain about a dead alien that is stalking you!" she exclaimed. "Ghostfreak is dead! You hear me?!"

"Guys, Max is here!" Albedo called from upstairs.

While Gwen was distracted, I gently grabbed either sides of her face and kissed her. It didn't take long for her to return the kiss. And we both pulled away after just a few seconds.

"What was that for?" Gwen asked, sounding curious, not angry.

"I thought it'd make you forget you were mad at me." I said, as I got up and walked towards the stairs. "Albedo, man! Can you get me a new shirt, please?"

"Coming right up, dude!" he called back.

I got upstairs and pretty quickly was thrown a shirt from Albedo. I discarded the old shirt and put on the new one, as I headed towards the living room, where Grandpa Max waited.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed upon seeing me. "What happened to you?"

"Fun things. Lots of fun things Grandpa." I said. "What have you found out for me?"

"Well, first you can take your skull back." he said, as he handed it to me. "And I was right. It wasn't dust that was on the skull, it was a fine powder. But not just any powder."

"What was it?" I asked.

"It was an hallucinogen." Grandpa Max said. "Can I tell you my theory about this?"

"Yes." I said.

"Okay, do you remember when you were a kid, you were scared of the dark?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Well, I think that your fear of the dark and Ghostfreak came together as a huge double whammy, once you accidentally inhaled the powder." Grandpa Max said.

"And to add on to that theory," Gwen said from across the room. "it was raining last night. It rained the night we offed Ghostfreak. I think all of that made you have the nightmare. And inhaling the powder did the rest."

"Are you saying that this whole night, while Ghostfreak was chasing and stalking me, I imagined the whole thing?" I asked.

"Yes. You only seemed to be attacked when you went into a dark room." Gwen said. "There, you would imagine Ghostfreak trying to attack you."

"So, what? Did I just magically hurt myself, instead of Ghostfreak hurting me?" I asked.

"I guess. Ben, what we're trying to say is that Ghostfreak was never really there." Grandpa Max said. "It's like being afraid of the dark again."

"I just, I don't believe that." I said, as I got up.

"Well, suit yourself." Grandpa Max replied, as he got up and walked over to the front door.

After a few seconds, he spoke.

"Did you guys go out today?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"Your alarm was tripped in the afternoon today." Grandpa Max replied. "Someone must have been in your house."

"Wait, what?" I asked.

Grandpa nodded, as he turned to face me.

"I, uh, need to go put this skull away." I said, as I walked towards the basement stairs.

I ran down the stairs, not thinking to turn on the light as I made my way to the storage room. I placed the skull into the open box where it was earlier that night and then left the storage room.

And on my way to the stairs, I heard the ghostly cackle again. I turned, to see a dark shadow in the corner of the room.

"I've come for you." Ghostfreak said, as he floated towards me.

I had nowhere to run. I watched as he hovered towards me and when he got close, I backed up against the wall.

 _Well, I guess this is it._

I was done for. I was about to accept my fate, when what Grandpa had said came back to me. What had he said?

 _It's like being afraid of the dark again._

Afraid of the dark? That's it! Of course! I looked up at Ghostfreak, as he got closer. I grinned, knowing full well what to do. I reached for the light switch that was to my left.

"Lights out, Ghostfreak!" I exclaimed, as I turned on the light.

Once the light came on, Ghostfreak disappeared. Faded, as if he were never there. Because, Grandpa was right. Ghostfreak was never here. The only reason he got to me, was because I was hallucinating in the dark.

"Ben, you okay down there?" Gwen called.

"Yeah, I'm okay!" I called back, as I recovered from whatever that was.

I walked up the stairs and into the living room, where Grandpa was getting ready to leave.

"Ben?" he asked.

"You were right." I said. "He was never there."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Grandpa Max asked, as he grinned.

"You were right, okay? Jesus!" I exclaimed with an annoyed tone.

He just grinned, as he waved good bye and walked out the door. Gwen, Albedo and I all walked outside to watch him leave. As we watched him go, we noticed the sun just beginning to come up.

"Sunrise!" I said, as I stretched and yawned. "Well, time for bed!"

"I'm already there, Ben." Gwen said, as she walked back into the house.

Albedo and I stood there for a few seconds.

"You know, that crazy hallucinating thing you did was a lot creepier than any scary movie." he said, as he winked at me. "Any chance we can do this all again on Halloween?"

I just thought about for a second.

"I'm afraid not." I said.

 _Author's Note_

* And that's it, folks! The last chapter of 2017!

*Well, what did you guys think? I really wanted to make this chapter as creepy as I could, since I never did a Halloween themed chapter, and I hope that I delivered.

*What did you think of the fact that Ben was just imagining Ghostfreak the whole time? Albedo and Ben's brotherly bond is growing, you should see that. What did you think of the one or two fluffy moments in the chapter. Do you think S.E.C.T. is behind the hallucinogen that Ben accidentally inhaled?

*This chapter was based off of an episode of an animated show that used to air on Cartoon Network about ten or so years ago. It's not Ben 10, I'll say that. Can you figure it out?

*Be here, on January 1st, for the second half of Volume One! Just a preview of what's to come: More Bwen, more action, more chaos, more villains! Also, late in Volume One, Sunny will make her debut! Oh, and is it possible that the Forever Knights will make their debut in the next chapter? Maybe...

* But anyway, thank you guys for reading this chapter! If you enjoyed, please favorite and follow! And I'll see all you dudes in 2018!


	42. Chapter 41: The Organization: Part One

Chapter 41: The Organization: Part One

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note_

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty-one, as well as the first chapter of 2018!

* This arc will be one of the most important arcs that have come out of this story! One of Ben's bigger enemies, the Forever Knights, are making their debut in this arc. One thing I will give away about this arc, is that there is a secret that the Tennyson family has kept under wraps from it's children. And in this arc, light will slowly be shed onto that secret.

* So, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! On we go!

* Oh, and before I forget, happy New Year!

 _Ben_

Last night was like a nightmare, but being awake instead of being asleep. The whole house was awake again, at two in the afternoon. After that night that we all had, we needed the sleep.

Right now, Gwen and I were chilling in the basement, watching T.V. on the big screen. It seemed to be going great. And then I let it slip that Albedo was going to start living with us.

"Say what?" Gwen asked, getting up from the couch.

"I told you, Albedo is going to start living with us." I said.

"What will your parents say?" Gwen asked.

"I don't care! We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I said.

"Well, how can you trust him to live here?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Gwen, I don't understand! I mean, the dude is like a brother to me!" I said, as I stood up to face her.

"He also tried to kill you and take your life! Did you think of that?" she asked.

"Come on, Gwen! That was in the past!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, really?" Gwen asked. "So, you're saying that he's not bad?"

"Yes." I said.

"And you expect me to be okay with him living under the same roof as us?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do. He's like a brother to me and should be treated as such." I said.

"He's _not_ living here. End of conversation." Gwen replied, as she walked towards he stairs, probably to tell Albedo that he was leaving.

I rushed to the stairs, getting in front of her.

"You're not kicking him out. He has nowhere to go!" I said. "I mean, come on! He told me that he lives in empty trash bins when it rains!"

"That's not my problem." Gwen said. "He's not staying here. I won't have it."

"He's my brother! You're not kicking him out!" I exclaimed, as I walked towards her, causing her to walk backwards.

"Watch me!" she exclaimed, as she tried to get past me.

As an instinct, I grabbed the thing that was closest to me. Said thing was one of the things that you used to push hockey pucks around on the hockey table.

I meant to throw it at her chest. But it arced and headed towards her face. Luckily she ducked and it went over her head. She looked at me with shock.

"Hey! Don't you throw nothing at-" she began speaking, but stopped once she heard it impact on the wall behind her. "-me?"

She turned around to see that I had made a hole in the wall.

"Well now look what you did! You parents are going to tan your hide when they get home!" she exclaimed.

I ignored her and walked around her, towards the hole in the wall.

"Ben! I'm talking to you!" she exclaimed.

I ignored her, as I got to the hole.

"Ben!" she exclaimed again.

I began knocking around the hole and I eventually noticed something. The most of the wall that the hole surrounded, it was hollow.

"This wall is hollow." I said.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"The wall is hollow." I said in a louder tone.

I didn't wait for Gwen to react or to come up to me. I punched through the wall.

"What the hell, Ben? Your mom and dad aren't going to be happy that you did that!" she exclaimed. "What were you thinking?!"

I ignored her and stepped into the room. It was pitch black, only a few parts of the room were illuminated from the room. I could see one file cabinet, but that was it. I searched around the room for a source of light. Eventually while walking around, I felt a weird sensation on my face.

I thought it was a cobweb at first, but it was to small, too long to be a cobweb. I felt around for it and it when I got it, it felt like a string. So, I pulled it. The string was connected to a light bulb and the room was illuminated.

The room had a desk or two, a table and several filing cabinets. And most of said furniture was piled high with papers, pictures, files, all kinds of stuff. I walked all around the room, trying to decide what to do first.

"Ben?" Gwen asked from behind me. "I don't think you should touch any of the stuff in there. I don't think you were meant to see any of this."

I ignored her and proceeded to the desk. On it was a picture of three young people, two of them looking like my parents.

"What the-" I said, as I looked at the picture.

I moved on to the next thing, which was a transcript or something. The header to the paper said the following:

 _Agents Deadeye, Speedster and Steel save Bellwood from Mutation Plot._

I put down the paper and picked up the folder that sat next to the paper. When I opened up the folder, the first paper I saw was a biography, I guess. And then I saw something that made my eyes almost pop from their sockets.

"Oh my God." I whispered.

"What? What is it?" Gwen asked from behind me.

I turned around to face her.

"My parents were agents of S.E.C.T.!" I exclaimed.

"S.E.C.T.? What's that?" she asked.

"The Special Extra-Terrestrial Containment Team." I said. "And apparently before I was born, my parents were S.E.C.T. agents!"

"Wait, what?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Yeah um, I don't- I don't know." I said.

"Do you have anything else?" Gwen asked.

"Oh, there's tons of stuff here. Can you go get Albedo?" I asked. "He should see this."

"Yeah, sure. Be right back." Gwen said.

After she had left, I went back to looking around the room. I found a picture of a tall building. I picked it to inspect it. The building had letters on it, that spelled out Forever Knights, Inc. And it was circled with red sharpie, it looked like.

 _Forever Knights Inc.? What is that? And why haven't I ever heard of it?_

I put the photograph down back where I had found it and looked around the room for anything else that was of potential interest. And I found it.

On a table in the corner was something that was covered with a cloth and next to it, was a short stack of paper. I walked over to the table and picked up the paper. It was covered with a thick layer of dust. Everything in the room had dust on it. The dust had settled long before I found the room.

I blew the dust off of the paper to see that it wasn't ordinary paper. It was some kind of blueprint. I eyed the schematic of the device shown on the sheet. It looked vaguely familiar.

I looked down at the alien watch and saw why the schematic looked that way. The schematic and the alien watch were almost identical!

I pulled the cloth of the object, to see that a near identical alien watch was sitting there! And it looked like it had either been in the process of being built or in the process of being dismantled. I couldn't tell which one it was.

"Hey, bro! What did you fin- Holy shit! What the hell happened?!" Albedo exclaimed, as I heard footsteps behind me. "What is all of this?"

I quickly covered up the identical watch and turned to look at Albedo.

"You tell me, dude. I think I found a secret room." I said.

He walked over to the table I stood in front of and picked up the transcript that revealed to me that my parents were agents of S.E.C.T.

"What does this mean?" Albedo asked.

"What do you think it means, man? Our parents were agents of S.E.C.T." I said.

"Hold the phone, Ben!" Gwen exclaimed.

I looked at her, seeing the irritated look on her face.

"You did not just say "our parents". That thing is not your brother!" she exclaimed. "He is just a clone that was made from your genetic template, that wanted to take your life! What makes you think that you didn't just give him what he wanted? What makes you think that you can trust him?!"

I looked at Albedo after a few seconds, to see that he looked pissed off. He picked up a nearby metal rod, before moving towards Gwen. I grabbed him before he could even get close to her.

"Calm down, dude!" I exclaimed, as I grabbed his arm that had the rod in his hand. "She doesn't mean you any harm! Back off!"

"How can you let her talk to me like that?!" Albedo said, as he tried to push forward.

"Albedo, stand down!" I said, as I pushed him back up against the wall.

He looked at me with anger.

"Listen man, we have to work on that temper of yours. You're my brother. That won't ever change." I said, as I walked over to Gwen. "I'll talk some sense into Gwen. You just stay down here and try to cool down."

I put my arm around Gwen's shoulder and steered us toward the stairs.

"How can you trust that thing?" Gwen asked as we walked up the stairs. "He's dangerous! He'll betray you at any moment! I just know it!"

"Gwen, you need to think about that. He won't betray me." I said. "He wanted what I had when he came to be. Which, was you, kind of. He wanted you, just as much, as he wanted my life. But after a little trial and error, he found out that he didn't want my life."

"So, why are you letting him live here?" she asked.

"Because he is like a brother to me." I said. "And that Dark Omnitrix that he calls it is more powerful than my watch. He needs to be guided. If he isn't, he could be very destructive with his powers. He needs my guidance."

"Well, I guess that makes sense." Gwen said.

"Thanks for agreeing with me." I said.

I walked off to the room that Gwen and I now shared. I was going to change into my costume and get out of the house for a while. I needed to clear my head after finding the secret room.

There was something else about the room though. The file on Agent Steel had been ripped out. His name was there, but the file was not. Now, there were two options here. One, the file was somewhere else in the room. Two, and it was the more likely of the two, someone else had it.

I slipped on my black T-shirt and blue jeans. Then my leather jacket, gloves, gauntlets, the whole nine yards. Gwen came in as I was about to put on my mask.

"Hey, where are you going?" she asked.

"I need to get out of here for a while. I need to think about this for a while." I said.

"Do you want Albedo and I to come with you?" she asked.

"No. I just need to be alone." I said. "I'll be fine."

I don't know what it was, but every instinct screamed at me to ask them to come with me. But I didn't.

"Come home safe to me." she said, before grabbing both sides of my face and pulling me into a passionate kiss.

After she pulled away, I guess I was left wanting more. I didn't kiss her again. Instead, I asked her something.

"That was amazing. Um, we've never kissed using tongues before..." I said, as she stared back at me, as she began to blush. "Could we do that?"

Gwen blushed bright red. She grabbed both sides of my face again and brought me closer. She began to whisper into my ear.

"Ask me that again when you come home safe." she whispered into my ear.

She pulled away and we continued to look at one another. After a few seconds of silence passed, I put my mask on. I walked over towards the window and opened it.

"Good-bye." I said. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Gwen answered almost immediately.

I smiled in spite of myself and left through the window.

 _Half An Hour Later_

I had swung through the city using my new gauntlets for the last twenty or so minutes. I still couldn't get the question out of my head:

 _What did this all mean?_

I came to a stop on the wall of the Bellwood Natural History Museum. I sat against the wall for a while, before grappling my way up to the roof. As soon as I got up there, I heard a thud from the other side.

I looked up to see that Kevin was standing on the other side of the roof, in his mutated alien form.

"Kevin?! Oh my God! I can't believe that you're here!" I exclaimed.

He responded by jumping across the roof, over to where I was and I was surprised when I felt a headache coming on.

He continued to stalk closer and the headache continued to get worse. I eventually was backed up against the short wall that surrounded the edge of the building. Kevin continued to swipe at me from where he was at.

 _Maybe I should have asked Gwen and Albedo to come with me!_

 _Author's Note_

* And that's it for part one of the arc known as The Organization, as well as the first chapter of 2018! What did you guys think?

* What does everyone think of the secret room in Ben's basement, and what of his potential future now that these secrets have been uncovered? The revelation that his parents were agents of S.E.C.T.?

* Does anyone think they know who the agent listed as "Agent Steel" is? And why do you think his file was missing? We've seen the introduction of the Forever Knights as a corporation of sorts. How about that?

* This is where I leave it for this time around. I hope you guys enjoyed! Please favorite and follow the story if it interests you! I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic New Year's Day and bye!


	43. Chapter 42: The Organization: Part Two

Chapter 42: The Organization: Part Two

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty two! So, this is part two of a (probably) seven part arc. Just wanted to get that out of the way.

* I want to take this time to address something. Nothing serious, I promise. A lot of you may be wondering why I'm not calling this arc "Forever Knights", "Knights Forever", "Forever Knightly", or something along those lines. Why did I go with "The Organization"? Well, it's because of an episode from the old original series, which may or may not be canon anymore, because of the reboot (if any of you guys know the answer to that or not, could you please let me know?). But anyway, does anyone remember the old episode "A Small Problem?"?

* Like I said, it's an older episode in which Ben get's stuck as Greymatter for a few hours and that brown haired guy captured him in a cooler. And the guy wanted to hand him over to the Forever Knights, known at the time as "The Organization." And that is why I am calling this arc "The Organization". As a sort of call back to the old T.V. show.

* Anyway, I've used up most of the space for my author's note, so let's just get in to it!

 _Ben_

I leaned back against the wall in fright, as Kevin swiped at me with his talons. My headache raged, as I could not back up any further. He wasn't talking. I could see in his eyes that he wasn't all there. He was enraged.

I didn't feel like there was a way out this time. The was no way to reason with this version of Kevin. The only thing I could do was fight him, as much as I didn't want to. Doing my best to fight the headache, I reached for the alien watch.

I activated it, just as Kevin lunged at me. Headache blaring, I lept out of the way, causing him to miss me. I switched to an alien form, I wasn't looking though. When I transformed, I came out as Diamondhead.

He charged at me, and as he did, I ran towards him, still having a mild headache. I jumped and placed my foot on his head, and kicked off of him, going into a flip. As I came out of the flip, I hit him with a barrage of diamonds.

He let out a grunt of pain and rage as he backed up. Once I was back on the ground, he took me by surprise. He charged me and actually wrapped his arms around my waist, and ran forward with me.

He eventually came to a stop and threw me across the roof. I slammed into one of the turbines on top of the roof. Or maybe it wasn't a turbine, it was a big fan or air conditioner or something.

"Kevin... what the hell?" I muttered, as I struggled to get up.

But before I could, Kevin ran over to me and grabbed my leg. And after that, he began to thrash me around. He eventually let go of me, sending me flying into the museum's rooftop garden.

Yes, the museum had it's own rooftop garden. Complete with flower beds, stone benches, a few small trees and even a small stream of water. And Kevin thrown me into it, wrecking a good portion of it.

I had to fight back. I don't know what was up with Kevin, but it was clear to be that he couldn't control himself in this state. And the only way I could help him, was to put him under and make sure he didn't hurt anyone.

Only problem was, in his crazed form, I think he was stronger than me. As well as having much faster reflexes and greater speed overall. That was bad for me.

 _Have to do my best to put Kevin under. Even if it kills me._

I picked myself up and launched myself at him. But, he just swatted me away with minimal effort.

 _Should of known he'd do that. Maybe if I pepper him with diamonds from a distance and then move in..._

I decided to go for it and got up on one knee, and began to fire diamonds at his face. He was momentarily blinded. He stepped back, letting out a roar of fury as he did. I took the opportunity to charge him. Once reaching him, I punched his jaw as hard as I could.

He didn't go down immediately. So I punched him again and again. And then followed up with a kick to the jaw. After that, he fell over. But he got right back up almost immediately after.

He let out a roar of fury and I tried to back up, but he was already ahead of me. He grabbed me by the face and slammed me into the floor of the roof.

"Ow..." I croaked out, as he picked me back up and threw me across the roof.

After I recovered, I tried to do the same tactic I had just done, but this time, he sidestepped, dodging the barrage of diamonds.

 _Shit, he's adapting. Why didn't I think that he'd do that?_

He lept towards me and I tried to sidestep. But unfortunately, I wasn't as fast as he was and he easily grabbed me. He grabbed either sides of my face and attempted to crush my head in his hands.

Even though I was made of diamond and diamond couldn't be broken, it still hurt. A lot. I kicked him off of me, but only sending him a foot or two away from me. I ran up to him and began to hit him again. I got only a couple of hits in before he retaliated.

 _Is this how it's going to go? Am I just going to have to repeat this tactic until one of us gives up? Or dare I say until one of us kills the other?_

He let out another roar of fury, before swatting me away again. I recovered as fast as I could. I ran at him, as I hit him with a barrage of diamonds, which for the most part he dodged.

I got up to him and began to hit him again.

"Look Kevin, I can help you! But you can't attempt to kill me every time you see me!" I said.

No avail there. He just swatted me away again. I got back up to my feet and ran to assault him with diamond fire again.

"I'm just talking to hear myself talk, aren't I?" I asked.

Kevin swatted at me again without answering, but this time I dodged.

"Thought so." I replied.

I continued combating him, but to pretty much no avail. I thought I was actually getting a beating on him, but then he retaliated with strength I didn't even know he had. He let out the loudest roar of fury that I heard.

He was about to engage me, when all of a sudden, something happened that I wasn't expecting. A pink shield appeared in front of me, blocking off Kevin from attacking me further.

"What the -" I began to mutter, as I turned around.

On an adjacent rooftop, I saw Gwen levitating, in her Lucky Girl costume and Albedo was there as well.

 _Well, this is awkward._

"Move!" Gwen exclaimed, her eyes full of worry.

She didn't understand the thing I had with Kevin. I had to put him under. And another thing, I didn't even understand why Gwen and Albedo were here. She shouldn't be here. But there was nothing that I could do.

I thought that maybe she wanted me to get away from him. But I didn't listen to her. I lept over the shield she had made, to attack Kevin again. I don't know how I did this, but somehow, Diamondhead was strong enough.

I picked up Kevin and lifted him up over my head! Yes. Mutated Kevin with all four arms! I didn't know that Diamondhead had the strength to do that, but even then, I still strained to lift him up over my head. I had to get him off. So, I threw him.

And, I threw him off the rooftop. The hourglass symbol on my pectoral began to flash red. I don't know what I was thinking for what I did next. But anyway, I ran in the direction in which I had thrown Kevin.

I jumped off of the roof with him and followed him in his decent. He slammed into the street below and then came back up a little bit. I changed back into my human form as I landed feet first on top of him, sending him back into the asphalt.

"Don't mess with me, Kevin!" I exclaimed, as I pointed down at him. "I'm being totally serious!"

I thought he was out cold. But I was mistaken. I didn't see the green vine-tentacle things snaking up behind my back. They wrapped around my arms and then he got up, while his vines held me in mid air.

He tossed me across the street and I collided with an electric pole. I tried to get up, but Kevin was on me in seconds. I felt those vines wrap around me and pick me back up. He brought me closer and just roared in my face. And then, the unexpected happened again.

"Kevin! Sit." someone said.

Kevin turned, along with me as well, and we both saw half a dozen of both men and women, all armed to the teeth with various weapons. They were very well armed to put it lightly.

They didn't have any insignias that represented S.E.C.T. But then again, maybe they were a sort of black ops squad for S.E.C.T. I didn't really know. The lead soldier, I assumed, who was a blond-haired woman, was holding a weapon of some kind.

She shot it at him, which stunned him with an electric spark. He let out a roar of fury, as it stunned him. He tossed me across the street and I impacted into one of the soldiers. Or maybe mercenaries was the right word?

Both me and the mercenary were knocked down.

"Ugh," I said, as I recovered. "You guys with S.E.C.T.?"

"Get off!" the guy exclaimed, as he pushed me off of him and getting back up.

I just laid where I was, and watched as they unloaded a barrage of electric spark fire onto Kevin. He let out multiple pained roars, but eventually the roaring and fighting back ceased. Afterwards, he fell flat onto his face and changed back into his human form, clearly unconscious.

I eventually stood up, and now noticed that they had their own little drop ship. I scratched my head as I turned to look at the lead female mercanery.

"Thank you." she said. "Say thank you, kid. I just saved your ass."

"Um, thanks?" I asked.

"You're welcome." she said, as she patted my back as she walked away.

I watched as she walked over to Kevin's motionless form, and noticed two of her goons slap on some kind of restraints on his wrists. I watched as they dragged him up onto their drop ship.

"Whoa! Where are you taking him?" I asked, as I ran up to the lead mercanery.

"It doesn't matter." she said, as she spun around to face me. "We took care of him for you and you should thank us for it. From what I've heard, he's caused you a lot of trouble."

 _Who are these people? They have to be with S.E.C.T. if they know about my conflict with Kevin!_

I was about to ask her that, but when I looked up, she was already on the drop ship and the ship's gangplank had already gone up. And then the ship lifted off. I watched it go.

"Okay. Yeah, thanks. I guess." I said, as I watched it get out of sight.

I just stood there, scratching the back of my neck. And then, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, to see Gwen standing there, still in her Lucky Girl costume. She slapped me on the cheek as hard as she could.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, as she pulled me into a hug thereafter.

 _What the fuck is going on?_

"Why didn't you tell me you were going after Kevin?!" Gwen exclaimed, as she continued to hug me. "You could have died!"

"Lucky Girl!" I said, not using Gwen's name. "I didn't know that Kevin would find me! I just seriously needed to clear my head! Kevin found me, not the other way around!"

"You honestly expect me to believe that?!" she exclaimed, as she pulled away, slapping me again. "Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, what do you take me for?!"

"Hey, hey, hey! We have secret identities!" I said.

Gwen let out a grunt of irritation, as she stomped on the ground.

"You are such a piece of work! You're sleeping on the couch tonight!" she exclaimed, as she walked away.

"What is wrong with her?!" I exclaimed, as I looked at Albedo. "Albedo, a little help here?"

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Shut up, Ben." he said as he walked away, following Gwen.

"What the shit?!" I exclaimed, as they left me by myself.

With nothing else to do, I just stood there. Eventually, I realized that I was just standing there. I let out a sigh, as I began to follow them on the way back home.

 _A Few Hours Later_

After I got back home, I avoided both Albedo and Gwen. But before I could avoid either of them, Albedo said that he was taking the couch. So, it looked like I was sleeping in my old room tonight.

I also went back down to the now revealed secret room, to see if I could pick up anymore information, but to no avail. So, after that I just decided to hit the shower and call it a day.

After washing my hair and a rinse, I shut the water off. As I stepped out of the shower, I heard a knock at the door.

"There's kind of someone in here!" I called.

I heard the door open and shut. I let out a sigh of irritation. I wrapped my towel around my waist and walked around the corner into the other section of the bathroom, to see Gwen with her back up against the door.

"What? You want to berate me some more?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"That's not fair, Ben." she replied.

"Not fair?! You smacked me!" I exclaimed. "And you accused me of going after Kevin!"

"And I want to apologize for it! It wasn't fair for me to assume that you went after Kevin. I should have believed he came after you!" she said. "Forgive me? You don't have to sleep on the couch, I was just angry!"

"Of course I'll forgive you. But it's been done. Albedo said that he has the couch." I said. "So, I'll sleep in my old room tonight. I get it. I messed up a little bit. I have to pay the bill."

"You don't have to do anything!" Gwen said, as she threw her arms around me, before looking into my eyes. "Just forget I said anything!"

I noticed that the water still on my chest was seeping into Gwen's shirt.

"I'm getting your shirt wet, Gwen." I said.

"I don't care." she said, before doing something that surprised me.

She placed both of her hands on either side of my face and kissed me. But it wasn't just any kind of kiss. Before I even knew what I was letting her do, I had allowed her tongue to slip through my lips.

And yeah, it was that kind of kiss. We were kissing with our tongues. The kiss lasted for a while. And when we stopped, when we pulled away, we remained hugged against one another, with the tips of our tongues touching for a mere few seconds.

She eventually drew back her tongue and so did I.

"Wow. That was a whole new experience." she said, as she pulled away from the hug. "Think about it. Please?"

She then walked away and out of the bathroom.

 _Think about it. Please? What was I supposed to think about? Not having to make both of us sleep alone tonight? But, I messed up and it's a punishment!_

"Oh, man!" I complained. "Women are so confusing!"

 _This one is confusing especially. But you have to admit that she is stunningly beautiful._

Those weren't my thoughts... Must be something messing with my head again. I let out another sigh, before leaving the bathroom.

 _Close To Midnight_

I laid in bed, not being able to fall asleep yet. There must have been something about not being close to your significant other at night, that made one not be able to sleep. I laid there awake, for probably two hours now, when I heard my door creak open.

I took a quick glance to my left, where my door could be seen from the bed. In the dim light, I could see the shimmer of fiery red.

 _What was Gwen doing in here? It was almost midnight!_

I heard her shuffling footsteps come towards my bed.

"Ben?" she whispered.

I didn't answer, as I was too surprised to see her in here. So, I don't know why, I just pretended to be asleep. I heard her steady breathing, but nothing else. I didn't hear her move at all, so I knew she was just standing there.

I was surprised when I felt the comforter and top sheet be pulled back a little bit. I opened one eye and watched as Gwen got into bed with me. She snuggled up against me and rested her head on my chest.

We laid there in silence for a while. I eventually wrapped my arm around her back, which caused her to jump a little bit. After she recovered from the initial shock that I was awake, she settled back down and snuggled against me again.

"I love you." she whispered to me.

"I love you, too." I whispered.

Epilogue

 _Kevin_

"Kevin, wake up." I heard a voice, as I began to stir.

"Kevin, wake up!" the voice exclaimed this time.

I fully came out of my sleep and looked up, to see that I was in some sort of containment field. And outside the containment field, were two middle aged men.

"Who are you people?" I asked.

"Mr. Levin, my name is Mr. Enoch." the grey-haired man said. "And this is my associate."

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

"What we want is simple." Mr. Enoch said. "What you have become, this is the place where it was born. And we rightfully own it. It's rightfully ours and we are going to take it back."

"What has this got to do with me?" I asked.

"The mutation that you have contracted was born here. And before we could test it, it was taken from us." Enoch's associate said. "And now, we have you. So, you will help us test it. And along the way, if we can, we will cure you of your condition."

"Are you crazy? Even I can't control it, so what makes you think that you can?!" I asked.

"Or, we can let the mutation slowly drain you, which would kill you." Mr. Enoch said. "And then we would harvest the mutation from your body and try it with someone else. One way or the other, we'll get what we want."

I let out a sigh.

 _I guess I can't talk my way out of this one._

"Okay. What do you want me to do first?" I asked.

 _Author's Note:_

* Well, that's it for this chapter! What did everyone think?

* Do you think Kevin was taken by S.E.C.T.? I mean, it's pretty noticeable that it may not be S.E.C.T., right? And then Ben and Gwen had a little bit of relationship trouble, but they patched it up there at the end. What do you think is going to happen with Kevin?

* Please follow and favorite if you enjoyed this chapter. And of course, please review! So, with that being said, I will see you guys in the next one!


	44. Chapter 43: The Organization: Part Three

Chapter 43: The Organization: Part Three

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note_ :

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty three, as well as part three of The Organization!

* Alright, people. This story arc is going to be ramping up in terms of drama, action and a lot of other elements starting in the end of the next part. I just wanted to get that out there.

* As for this chapter, you will begin to see just who the Forever Knights are and what they do in this universe. I'm hoping that all of you saw what their intentions with Kevin were. And I think I'll mention this now, that S.E.C.T. is going to be getting involved in this arc soon.

* Anyway, with all of that being said, let's get on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Early Morning_

I didn't remember falling asleep, but I guess I did. I woke up, to see it was still dark outside. I turned my head, to see it was about 4:50 in the morning. I felt weight on top of me, that I hadn't felt before, maybe from just waking up.

It was then that I remembered that Gwen came to sleep with me last night. She had gone from laying her head on my chest, to laying her head on the pillow next to my head. Her nose was gently rubbing against my neck and lower cheek.

I considered getting out of bed, but I just didn't want to leave Gwen by herself, let alone leaving the warmth of the bed. Besides, it was really early anyway. I got comfortable again and pulled the top sheet and comforter up a little.

Gwen shifted in her sleep a little, but didn't wake up. After lying there for a few more minutes, I fell back to sleep.

 _An Hour and a Half Later_

An hour and a half later, I was still asleep, when I felt something nudging me in my sleep.

"Nng." I let out a groan, not waking up.

"Ben." I heard Gwen whisper to me, as I felt a nudge again.

My eyes popped open, as I woke with a start. I darted upwards, as I reached out to grab something. Which I ended up grabbing Gwen's wrist, getting a tight grip on it.

"It's just me!" Gwen said, as she firmly gripped my hand. "It's just me."

I remained where I was, sat up as I tried to catch my breath. Gwen's hand remained gripping mine. I eventually laid down, bringing her down with me as we were still holding hands. She remained on top of me for a while, as I continued to catch my breath.

She eventually sat up, but remained on top of me. To comfort me, I guess, she began to gently stroke my chest through my shirt.

"Everything okay?" she whispered in a concerned tone.

"Yeah." I said. "I'm just worked up after all the stuff that happened yesterday."

She chuckled.

"Jesus, Ben. You need to take longer breaks from this superhero alien thing." she whispered. "You'll get PTSD if you don't."

"Very funny." I said, as I sat up. "Come here."

We shared a kiss, as I gently ran my fingers through her hair. She placed her hands on my neck as the kiss continued. I pulled away after a few seconds. I could see her smile in the dim light.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're really good at that?" Gwen asked, as she continued smiling.

I smirked at her.

"So, I've been asking myself this question." she said, as she twirled a lock of her hair around her finger.

"What's that?" I asked, as I hugged her close.

"Is this permanent? You said that you had never had a long term relationship with Kai." she said. "Will our relationship be long term?"

"Of course it will." I said. "I don't think I could live without you!"

"But what about your parents?" she asked. "What about my parents?"

"We'll figure it out." I said. "I'm not letting you go."

We kissed again after I said that. After about half a minute, we pulled away.

"Join me in the shower?" Gwen asked.

I was caught completely off guard by her question and I was kinda in thought, so I didn't completely catch what she said.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm going to go get in the shower." Gwen repeated. "Do you want to join me?"

I still couldn't believe what she had said. I just sat there, with my jaw dropped.

"Are you just going to sit there, or are you going to answer me?" she asked, as she smirked.

"We shouldn't Gwen." I said. "We're really early into our relationship and we shouldn't shower together yet."

She smirked and took my hand, as I looked into her eyes. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"You have a perverted mind, Ben. I didn't plan to do anything. So, shower with me, please?" she asked as she pulled me up and off of the bed. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

 _A Few Hours Later_

Gwen on I sat on opposite sides of the couch in the living room. It seemed like both of us had a blush on our faces for the last couple hours.

"Ben, i-" she began to speak, but I cut her off without looking at her.

"No." I said.

We sat there in silence for about half a minute.

"Ben, -" she tried to speak again, but I interrupted her, again.

"Stop it." I said.

"Ben, quit interrupting me!" she exclaimed.

"What?! What do you want to say that is so important?!" I exclaimed back.

"I don't know what you're so embarrassed about, Ben!" she said. "You're a teenage boy! It's very common for a boy your age to get a little excited!"

"Oh my God, I can't believe you're still talking to me about it." I said as I got up from the couch. "Or rather trying to talk to me about it."

"Hey, where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going downstairs. I can't sit up here with you when you're tossing that at me every few seconds." I said, as I left the room before she could say anything else.

I walked to the hallway towards the basement stairs and then down the stairs. I saw Albedo sitting on the couch, watching T.V.

"Hey dude, what brings you down here?" he asked.

"Oh, Gwen and I are having trouble." I said, as I headed towards the secret room. "She won't stop mentioning a mishap that I had in the shower."

Albedo didn't respond to that at first. I heard him shut off the T.V., get up from the couch and begin to follow me.

"What'd you do man?" he asked.

I didn't respond.

"Come on, tell me what you did!" he exclaimed.

"Okay, fine!" I exclaimed back at him, as I turned to face him. "While I was washing her back, I may have gotten a hard-on."

His face flushed and I could tell this wouldn't end well. He burst out laughing. I just stared at him as he did. He eventually stopped a little and spoke.

"Oh, man! Sucks to be you!" he exclaimed, as he laughed more.

I flinched a little as he said that. I tightened my hand into a fist as his laughter died down. He looked at me with a fearful look.

"Um, Ben?" he asked.

"Yeah, buddy?" I asked him in a quiet tone.

"Are you-" he began to speak, but I interrupted him by punching him in the arm, as hard as I could.

"Ow! Jesus, Ben!" he exclaimed. "What's the matter with you?"

"Don't make fun of me! It wasn't my fault!" I exclaimed. "So don't laugh at me, you jerk!"

I turned back around and walked into the secret room. I pulled the string that turned on the light bulb and began to look around. I went back to the filing cabinet and picked up the file on top of it.

I heard Albedo walk into the room behind me.

"So, what is all of this? What are the Forever Knights? What happened to Kevin?" he began to hit me with a barrage of questions. "Why didn't your parents ever tell you about this? What the fuck is going on?!"

"Jesus, dude! Calm down." I said. "Do you actually think that I don't want to know why they hid this from me?"

"Okay, sorry. No, I don't think that." he said.

"Something isn't right." I said. "The file on Agent Steel is missing. It was taken. I don't even know where to begin to look for it."

"Do you want to clean this place up a little and see if we can't find it?" Albedo asked.

"I guess. But I don't really see the point in doing so." I said.

"Well, let's get to work, then." he said.

 _Half An Hour Later_

Albedo and I had cleaned up the secret room, but we still hadn't found the missing file. I heard footsteps coming down the stairs as we continued looking for it. A few seconds later and Gwen walked into the room with us.

I didn't look directly at her. I was still embarrassed about earlier.

"Hey, I have to go up to the newspaper that takes the photos that I take of Alien Guy." she said. "I'll see you guys later."

I was about to just nod and go along with it, but my thoughts got in the way.

 _What if the newspaper's database or something has files on the Forever Knights? I can't just let her go by herself when this opportunity presents itself!_

"Wait, can I come?" I asked, turning to face her.

"What?" she asked, turning back to face me. "Why?"

"I'll explain on the way. Can I come or not?" I asked.

She eyed me with a curious look. Eventually, she nodded.

"Sure, whatever." she said, turning to face Albedo. "What about you, Dracula? Are you coming?"

"Hey! I take offense to that!" he exclaimed. "And I can't go out in public, so no. I'm not going."

"Oh yeah, I guess you really can't go out. Sorry dude." I said, as I turned to face him.

"Yeah, whatever. Just get out of here." he said, as he turned away from us.

Gwen and I looked at each other, eventually nodding at one another. After that, we left Albedo alone in the basement. I grabbed my phone, wallet and keys to the house, and we left.

"So, why do you want to come with me?" she asked, as we left through the door.

"I need to figure out who or what the Forever Knights are." I said. "I feel like your newspaper might have something on it's history."

"I guess we'll find out." Gwen said, not saying no to my request.

 _One Hour Later_

Gwen sat at the computer, as I stood beside her and watched her screen.

"Still nothing." she said, as she looked up at me.

I let out a sigh of defeat.

"Well, there's got to be something somewhere to find here." I said.

"Yeah, but I don't know where to start." Gwen said, as she looked back at the screen.

I stood there, thinking about what I could do next. I eventually decided to take a break and go get something from the vending machine on the next floor down.

"Hey, I'm going to go get something from the vending machine. Do you want anything?" I asked.

"Yeah. A water would be nice. Thanks." Gwen replied, without looking at me.

 _Can she even look at me when I'm talking to her?_

I looked around the room, to make sure no one was looking. Of course, no one really was.

"Gwen." I said.

"What?" she said, keeping her eyes on the screen.

"Gwen." I said in an impatient tone.

"What?!" she asked in an even more impatient voice, still not looking up at me.

I stepped closer to her and gently grabbed her chin, and turned her head so she was looking at me. I gently kissed her on the lips. I think she was surprised by the kiss, but she did return the kiss pretty quickly.

After we pulled away, I just smirked at her.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you, okay?" I asked.

She smirked back at me.

"Get out of here!" she said, before turning back to the screen.

 _Was any of that even worth it?_

I let out a sigh, as I walked towards the door to the hallway. I walked through the door and down the hallway, towards the elevator area.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

Ten minutes later, to make a long story short, it took me ten minutes to get down to the next floor. Apparently, the elevators, or one of them, was out of order. So, not wanting to wait, I decided to go search for the stairs that could take me down a level.

It took me ten minutes to find the stairs, but I did find them. I eventually did find the vending machines as well. I looked around the vending machine, to see that they were out of water.

I let out a sigh as I pulled out my phone to call Gwen. I dialed her number and waited for her to answer, if she did answer, that is. A few rings later, she answered her phone.

"Are you seriously calling me right now?" she asked, with a chuckle on the other line.

"Yes, I am." I said. "They don't have water. Do you want something else?"

"It's been ten minutes, Ben. What took you so long?" she said.

"I couldn't find the stairs." I said.

"You know that there are elevators, right?" she asked.

"One of them was out of order and I didn't want to wait." I said.

"Wow, I honestly don't know what to say about that." Gwen said.

"Then don't say anything. Do you want something else, or not?" I asked.

"No, that's okay." she said. "I moved from the computer to the storage room, where the newspaper keeps old papers from, like decades ago. And I've found something."

"Tell me." I said.

"I found an old paper from almost two decades ago. It detailed that something happened to expose the organization known as the Forever Knights." she said.

"What did they do?" I asked.

"That doesn't matter." Gwen said. "I want to read this part to you: "The Organization known as: The "Forever Knights" collect alien technology and supposedly keep them from falling into the wrong hands. To do this, they have an infantry/military that has access to armor and weapons that use an electrifying stun setting to dispatch of potential threats."."

"That doesn't sound like a newspaper." I said, as I looked through the vending machine for what I wanted. "That sounds nothing like a newspaper article."

"Well, if it helps, less than a week after the article was published, all newspapers that had the article in it were pulled from shelves everywhere." Gwen said. "And the author of said article was fired. Apparently, the author got the newspaper into trouble. And there are even rumors going around that the author was killed, but I don't know about that."

"Okay. But going back to the thing about their "military" using advanced armor and weapons that use stun settings, instead of a standard ammo type..." I said. "That sounds a lot like the guys that took Kevin yesterday."

"Well, there you go, then!" she said.

"Thanks. There must be a way to find out what happened to Kevin. What the fuck is going on?" I asked. "I think I'm going to focus on that tonight."

"Or, we could go to the movies!" Gwen said, as I heard a beep on my phone, signaling that I was getting another call.

"Uh-huh." I said. "Hold on, I'm getting another call."

I put Gwen on hold and looked at my screen. It was a number that wasn't on my contact list. I let out a sigh and answered it anyway. Before I could speak, the other person on the line beat me to it.

"Rooftop. Now." the person said, before hanging up on me.

I looked at my phone in shock, trying to comprehend what had just happened. I recognized the voice on the other side, but I couldn't put my finger on who it was. I guess my only choice was to go to the rooftop.

 _Five Minutes Later_

I threw the door to the rooftop open and walked outside, not really surprised to see Director Steel of S.E.C.T. standing there waiting for me.

"What are you doing here?!" I exclaimed, as I walked up to him. "This is trespassing!"

"Sorry kid, I need you to back off of the Forever Knights thing." Director Steel replied.

"Why?!" I said.

"Sorry kid. Eighteen years or over." he said.

"What does that mean?!" I asked.

"It means I need you to back off!" he said in a stern tone.

"Okay, fine! Jeez!" I said, as I turned around to walk back to the open door. "Don't come here! You're trespassing on my life!"

"Whatever, kid." I heard Steel say as I walked down the stairs.

 _Director Steel_

I watched Ben go, as I let out a sigh, not satisfied with his attitude. I heard one of my higher ranking agents move out from the only cover on the roof.

"Well Director, do you think he'll listen?" he asked.

I didn't turn to look at him.

"Hmm. If I know Ben Tennyson the way I do now, I anticipate that he'll do the exact opposite of what I just asked him to." I said.

 _Ben_

 _Several Hours Later_

I laid in bed with Gwen, about a half hour to eleven. Gwen was asleep, but sleep was not coming for me. I slowly and quietly threw back the covers. I quietly sat up, threw my legs over the side of the bed and sat there for a while, with my head in my hands.

I let out a sigh, before getting out of bed. I walked out of Gwen's bedroom and toward's my room. I walked in, turned on the light and began to quietly get my Alien Guy suit on.

"I have to go find the Forever Knights building. I have to find out what they did with Kevin." I quietly said. "If I don't, I wouldn't be a good friend."

 _Ex-friend is more like it._

"Shut up." I told the voice in my head.

 _Forty Five Minutes Later_

"Eighteen years or over." I mused, as I swung around to the Forever Knights building, after finding it. "Who does he think he is?"

I swung and landed on the glass windows of the building. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, but it wasn't like I had a lot of time to think. The glass I was sitting against shattered, and I fell dozens of stories to the ground.

At the last second, I lifted my arm and fired my wrist gauntlet up at the building. Some how, by a miracle from God, I came to a jerking halt and slowly descended to the ground.

But there was bad news too. As I the grapple hook connected, when that jerking halt came, it felt like I had pulled a muscle. I eventually fell to the ground, somehow saving myself and groaning with pain.

I retracted the grapple hook and it came back down into the gauntlet. I sat up, letting out another groan of pain, as I felt my arm, sure that I had pulled a muscle.

 _So, I was on that glass window and it had just shattered. What the hell happened?_

Before I could think more on it, I heard a roar. I looked up, just in time to see Kevin, in his mutated form, falling from the building. He landed in front of me, and roared at me again.

"Kevin." I mumbled, as I stood up, holding my head thanks to that blasted headache. "Is it actually you in there?"

Kevin swiped at me, and I didn't dodge in time. He hit me, and sent me flying across the street. I crashed into some kind of low grade convienance store. I crashed through the glass window and slammed into a shelf, toppling it over, along with all of the bags, boxes and bottled items on it.

I slowly got up, holding my side.

"I'm okay, nothing's broken! Except my spine." I said, as I slowly stepped forward. "My ribs. And everything else."

I jumped out of the store's broken window, back out onto the street, activating the watch as I went. I turned into Heatblast and approached Kevin again.

"I'm sorry about this Kevin!" I exclaimed, before summoning all of the fire I could.

I blasted him with fire, practically cooking him. I kept hitting him with flames for as long as I could, before I gave out. I fell to my knees, feeling exhausted. I looked up, and was surprised to see what was in front of me.

Kevin stood there, but in a different mutated form. He still had the giant, four armed figure with a tail and wings. But, he was made completely of diamond, just like Diamondhead.

Slowly, the Diamond began to crack and it all fell off, revealing the normal mutation again. Kevin let out a sort of demonic laugh.

 _He couldn't do that before..._

His entire upper left arm turned into a giant vine-like tentacle and he began to lash out at me. I jumped out of the way of all of his attacks.

 _He couldn't do that either!_

I landed back in front of him, as he approached me.

"Jesus Kevin, what did they do to you?" I asked.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter! What'd everyone think?

* So, next chapter may be short, it may be not, I haven't decided how it'll go yet. There's three or four more parts in this arc, and in about two chapters, stuff's going to happen. I'll just say that.

* Anyway, I'm going to go though. So have a fantastic day guys, and bye.


	45. Chapter 44: The Organization: Part Four

Chapter 44: The Organization: Part Four

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello, and welcome to chapter forty four!

* So, like I said in the last chapter, this chapter may be shorter than you guys are used to. So, this chapter is going to be set up a little different than how I usually set up my chapters. This chapter (the start of it, anyway) will focus on Kevin and even a little bit on Enoch's character! So anyway, with that being said, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

 _Kevin_

 _Hours Earlier_

"So, what exactly prompted you to go after this Ben Tennyson?" Enoch's associate said, as he wrote down my answers on a clipboard.

"I don't know." I said from my spot in the containment field. "I just - look, whenever I'm around him, I feel relaxed, like this mutation is under control. Like, I'm one with the mutation."

"And yet you always attack him." the man said. "Why?"

"I don't know." I replied with the same answer. "Every time I'm around him in that relaxed state, eventually I lose myself and the mutation takes over. And I know that you and Enoch knows what happens after that."

He nodded, as he wrote that down on his clipboard.

"What was one of the times that this scenario happened?" he asked.

I thought about it for a few seconds.

"It happened only one time..." I said, as I began to recollect the events of that night a week or two ago.

 _Enoch_

 _Hours Earlier_

"Tennyson? As in Carl Tennyson?" I asked, as I looked at Smith's clipboard. "He's retired!"

"But his son, Ben seems to be following in his footsteps!" he said. "Using the Omnitrix!"

"Not their Omnitrix, though? I thought that they never finished their Omnitrix!" I said.

"No, they didn't. They never got past the prototype stage." Smith said.

I turned away from him and began to mutter to myself in frustration.

"Someone or something stealing my ideas." I said to myself.

I turned back to Smith and looked at him.

"Our associate. Is she still with us?" I asked.

"Rojo? Yes, sir. She is." Smith said.

"Such a weird name for a woman." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Sir, her name is a Spanish one. Spanish for red, that is." Smith said.

"And yet, her hair isn't even red. It's blonde." I said. "Anyway, she mentioned seeing this Tennyson in costume when she and her squad captured Mr. Levin."

"And your point?" Smith asked.

"Don't talk to me like that!" I exclaimed with anger. "My point is that with Rojo, Kevin will lead us to Tennyson. I'm starting to formulate a plan."

"And that plan is?" Smith asked.

I thought Smith knew better, but apparently, he didn't. I angrily grabbed him by the collar of his suit coat and tossed him to the ground.

"Don't you know your place, Smith? You don't question me!" I exclaimed with anger. "Now go get Rojo and get her and Mr. Levin to the observation deck. Clear the deck. Pay her a few more thousand if you have to!"

"Yes, sir!" he exclaimed, as he ran out of my office.

 _Kevin_

 _Ten Minutes Earlier_

"He lives in the suburbs with his parents, Sandra and Carl Tennyson." I said, as I tried to adjust to my restraints as I walked alongside the blonde haired mercenary. "But right now his parents are out of town and he's living with his cousin, Gwen. Who is also his crush."

"He has a crush on his cousin?" the mercenary asked. "Sick."

"Hey, shut up! You may not care about what he does with his personal life, but I do!" I exclaimed.

"Whatever, kid. Just keep walking." she said.

I did. And eventually she spoke again.

"Okay, kid. You're gonna turn into that mutant freak for me. And then, you'll help me track down this Tennyson friend of yours." she said.

"How do you expect me to do that?! I can't transform unless I concentrate really hard!" I said.

 _Now that was partly true. I only seemed to transform if I concentrated really hard. Or, if I was in extreme pain or really stressed out, the mutation would take over. But she didn't know that._

She was silent for a second. Then, I felt something really cold hit me in the back of my neck, and _hard_.

"Arggh!" I exclaimed with pain, as I fell over. "What is wrong with you?!"

I looked up at her, to see that she was holding a medal rod of some sort. She was also grinning, with an evil look in her eyes. She tapped a button on the rod and the end began to arc with electricity.

She tapped my neck with it and I was sent into a waves of pain. I began to hear a distant ringing in my ears, as the mutation over took me. Bold, red scars began to grow on my face and my sides began to hurt, as the extra appendages began to grow.

I felt the tail began to grow from my behind. The wings began to grow from my back. Seconds later, I lost myself as the mutation began to complete.

He let out a growl as, as he slammed a fist into the floor.

"Tennyson is mine!" he snarled, as he stood up to face his adversary. "And you can't have him!"

The mercenary began to wave the electric rod in her hand, getting ready for a fight. He ran towards his target, as she hit him center in the chest, stunning him. But not before he took her in all four of his arms and began to roll down the hall like a ball.

When he came to a stop, he tossed her down the hall, towards the door to the observation deck. He sprinted towards her to engage her again, but she was faster. She threw the rod at him and it hit him in one of his shoulders.

He sprinted forward, almost ignoring the attack, about to go in for the kill. He slammed into her, sending him and her through the doors. She went flying across the room and hit a desk as she stopped.

She got up, blood trickling down her forehead.

"Come on, Levin! Is that all you have?!" she exclaimed.

He let out a roar, ready to charge again. Just then, he stopped. He lost his posture and looked up, as if he were sniffing the air. His eyes glossed over, as if Kevin was no longer inside of the beast.

He roared again and ran past the mercenary and jumped out the glass window, leaving nothing but destruction in his wake.

 _Gwen_

 _Thirty Minutes Earlier_

I woke up cold. I was a bit confused. I decided to roll over and poke Ben until he decided to wake up, so I could snuggle up with him again. I rolled over, to see an empty bed.

"Ben?" I called out into the dark room.

No answer.

"What the hell?" I asked myself, as I got out of bed.

I left the room and walked down the hall to his room, and opened the door, to see that his light was on, but he was nowhere to be found. His window was open. Also, when I walked over to the trunk that he leaves his costume in when he's not wearing it, I noticed it was empty.

"God damn it." I whispered, as I ran from the room.

I ran down the hallway to the basement stairs and down the stairs themselves. Albedo was sitting on the couch watching Family Guy, while the light above him was off.

"Hey, is Ben down here?" I asked.

He turned to look at me.

"No. Why?" he asked.

"I woke up alone. And the trunk in his room is empty. I think he's gone out!" I said.

"But it's almost midnight!" Albedo exclaimed.

"I know! After he came back from the vending machines today, he told me to just quit the research." I said. "Told me he wasn't interested in searching for the Forever Knights anymore. I knew he was just bluffing. I'm going to go look for him!"

"Not without me, you're not!" he exclaimed, as he got up from the couch to follow me.

"No. You stay here. I don't need your help." I said.

"Look, I don't know what the big deal here is! I'm living here and we shouldn't fight with one another!" he exclaimed. "Ben is my brother!"

I whirled around, with a look of anger in my eyes.

"You are _not_ Ben's brother!" I exclaimed. "You are a freak! A little, satanic, monster that was bred from genetic tinker toys! You're just a copy! You will never be Ben's brother, even if he says so!"

"Wow. Full disclosure, that hurt." he said.

"I don't care." I said, as I turned around to walk back up the stairs.

 _Five Minutes Later_

I walked out of my room, fully suited up and ran right into Albedo.

"What?" I exclaimed. "I told you that you aren't coming and that I don't want your help!"

"Look Gwen, you may not understand, but I owe Ben. I owe him for not killing me when he easily could have." he said. "He let me go and after working with him for a while, he's began to see me as a brother. I mean, I'm beginning to look at you as a sister! All I wanted when I came into existence was to just take his life from him, because I believed that he didn't deserve the things that he has."

He took a break to breathe before he continued.

"I wanted to take his life, I wanted to take you from him. It wasn't until a little later that I learned that you didn't belong to me. That I didn't want you. I still don't know what I want." he said. "All I know is that I can't protect you like he can. He can look after you, I can't. I'm nothing without him and his guidance."

I didn't buy what he was saying.

"Do you actually expect me to believe any of that?" I asked. "With or without him, you _are_ nothing! You're just living off of borrowed time!"

"Is that what you think?" he asked.

"It's not what I think." I said. "It's what I know."

"Then you are lost." he said, as we left the house.

 _Ben_

 _Present Time_

"Jesus Kevin, what did they do to you?" I asked.

He lunged at me again and I ran at him, kicking off of his forehead. I shot fireballs at him on my way down, but he dodged or blocked all of my attacks.

 _Damn, he's learning!_

I sidestepped, as he fired diamond shards and fireballs at me. And as he was preoccupied with that, I shot fireballs back at him. He actually got hit twice, but he dodged the rest of them.

"Come on, Kevin!" I exclaimed. "I know that you can do better!"

He let out a roar of rage and charged at me. All of a sudden, a pink shield appeared in front of me, causing Kevin to ram right into it.

I looked over my shoulder, to see Albedo and Gwen, in her Lucky Girl costume, on a nearby rooftop.

"Why must you always go out without me?!" she exclaimed.

I ignored her and went back to fighting Kevin. I heard Albedo activate his Dark Omnitrix and transform. Gwen's shield broke and Kevin charged back through. I noticed Albedo fly down as a Dark version of Stinkfly.

He began to bombard Kevin with that stink goo that Stinkfly fires from his eyes or whatever they are.

"Appreciate the help, man!" I exclaimed, as I began to summon a fireball.

"No problem." Albedo said, as he flew around in circles in the vicinity. "You know, Gwen is pissed at you for leaving the house without telling her. Especially so close to midnight!"

"Oh, tell her to take a number. She's not the only one that's pissed at me!" I exclaimed, as I threw a big fireball at Kevin.

Once the fireball connected with the goop, it all ignited. I was surprised, to say the least, seeing the walking hulk that my friend had become, go up in flames. I was even more surprised when the goop exploded.

"Holy shit!" Albedo and I said in unison.

Kevin let out a roar of rage, as he fell down on one knee.

"Um, remind me to put a sign that says "Warning: This Alien Contains Explosive Chemicals" on Stinkfly." Albedo said.

"Oh, shut up!" I exclaimed. "You have no-"

I was interrupted when I was forcibly turned around, to see Gwen quickly approaching me.

"Why you lying, sack of-" she began to speak, but I interrupted.

"Gwen, so good to see you! But you should be at-" I tried to speak further, but she interrupted me.

"Shut up, just shut the hell up!" she said. "You lied to me! You said that you were off of this Forever Knights "case" of yours, and then you disappear!"

"The Director of S.E.C.T. came to talk to me at the newspaper!" I exclaimed. "He tried to convince me to stop looking into them! Be mad at him!"

"I'm mad at you, you lying ba-" she continued to argue with me, but Albedo interrupted.

"Guys, now is not the time! Kev here isn't looking so good!" Albedo exclaimed.

I looked over at Kevin, to see steam coming off of his mutated skin, hide, whatever.

"Kevin?" I asked, as I cautiously approached him. "You okay, in there?"

I slowly began to notice both of his left arms changing into Diamondhead arms, and then morph into one big arm.

 _Where does he learn this crap?!_

He let out a roar of rage as he got up, before charging at full speed. I couldn't get out of the way in time. He hit me like he was a battering ram and ran with me stuck to his arm. He eventually stopped after ten or fifteen feet and began to pummel me into the ground.

I eventually managed to counter his attacks from beneath him, with a well placed fireball to the mid section. He flew off of me. I was about to run to attack him, when I heard a new voice enter the fray.

"Cool, look! Aliens!" someone said.

I looked up to see that blonde mercenary from the other day, and a pack of other mercenaries.

"They're not aliens. They bear the mark of the Omnitrix." the blonde said. "A well placed EMP Grenade should do fine."

 _What the fuck do they expect an EMP Grenade to do to us?_

"Delta Squad, engage!" the blonde exclaimed, and then several canister shaped grenades were through at us.

After they went off, Albedo and I were reverted back to our human forms. Gwen was unaffected.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"Save the one in the jacket. He and the big guy are priority targets." the blonde said. "Drop the other two."

I watched as the team armed their weapons.

"No!" I exclaimed, as they fired their weapons.

Gwen and Albedo were both shot, Albedo fell over almost immediately, while Gwen fell over instantly. I ran to catch her and I did. I gently laid her on the ground and noticed she had been shot with a dart, not a bullet.

 _They were tranquilized._

But I was still pissed. I turned around and looked at the blonde mercenary.

"You-" I said, as I began to walk towards her, breaking into a sprint. "You fucking bitch!"

I began to sprint towards her, and I began to not see straight anymore, but I knew that I was heading towards her. I was getting close when Kevin stepped in.

"Go away!" he exclaimed, as he whacked me with one of his arms.

I was sent flying, spinning right into a lamp post, hitting my back on it. I slid down to the ground and refused to get back up. Eventually I did get up though. I watched as the Delta Squad engaged Kevin. He grabbed a lamp post and pulled it right from the ground.

He hit them all as they tried to swarm him, even the blonde flew into a concrete wall, getting knocked out cold instantly. As I ran towards Kevin, I noticed that they all were probably out cold, too. I jumped on to Kevin's back and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Forget about me, you little asshole?!" I exclaimed.

He let out a roar of rage as he began to try to get me off his back. Eventually, he did. He grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder, causing me to impact with the pavement.

"Ow! God damn, that hurts!" I exclaimed, as I got up.

I sprinted over to him and began hitting him, not letting him get his bearings.

"Why. Can't. You. Just. Die?!" I exclaimed, with every punch in the jaw I landed on him, speaking in the heat of the moment.

I eventually hit him so hard, that he soared upwards and fell on his back. My hands felt so sore.

"Are we done, Kevin?" I asked.

He slowly began to change back into his human form, not moving.

"Oh, thank God. I'm not sure how much more I could-" I began to feel woozy, and the world around me began to spin.

"-take." I finished my sentence, as I fell to the ground, before losing consciousness.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the chapter for tonight!

* What did you guys think of this one? Did you guys like how half of the chapter was set in the last twelve hours? So, we have introduced another character, and you would have noticed if you paid enough attention in this chapter. Did you like, how I used third person for when Kevin wasn't in control of his mutation?

* So, the next chapter is when all of the drama goes down, and as well, the arc will begin to wrap up. I want to thank you guys for reading! Every review, favorite and follow is very appreciated! Anyway, I'm going to go, so have a fantastic day and, bye.


	46. Chapter 45: The Organization: Part Five

Chapter 45: The Organization: Part Five

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty five!

* So, in this chapter the arc will slowly begin to wrap up. You're probably wondering what happened to Ben, Gwen and Albedo. Well, obviously that will be answered in this chapter. I can't really say anything about this chapter, so let's get on with it!

 _Gwen_

I woke up with a splitting headache. I felt drowsy and weak. I now noticed that my costume and mask had been removed, replaced with a gown of some kind. I was up against some kind of reclining metal slab.

The room I was in, I noticed was filled with people who were dressed in bio-hazard suits.

"Please log another sample taken into the books." one of the scientists said.

"This is the Anodite-Human hybrid?" another scientist asked.

"I'm not sure if she is a 100 percent hybrid, but Mr. Enoch wants us to log our samples taken from her as such." Scientist Number One said.

I disregarded what the man had said. That, and I was too disoriented to do anything else.

"She's awake now. Avoid any attempts at conversation with her." Scientist Number One replied.

One of the scientists walked up to me and began to rub my forearm with some kind of antiseptic. I tried to slap at him, as I tried to ask what he was doing, but my voice was hoarse and I was restrained to the slab.

Then, after finding my vein, he stuck a needle in me and began to draw blood from my vein. After the end of the needle was full, he retracted the needle and put a bandage on my forearm.

"Okay, that's the last of the samples we need from her." Scientist Number One said. "We're done here."

"Can I go?" I asked in a hoarse voice, hardly enough for them to hear.

The scientist in front of me didn't seem to respond to what I said. Just then, I felt someone grab my head from behind and I tried to lunge forward, but I couldn't.

"Go back to sleep, honey." a voice said, as I felt a needle insert into my neck.

A little bit to a minute later, after the needle had left, my eyelids began to feel heavy. Then, against me not wanting to, my eyes closed and I succumbed to darkness.

 _Ben_

I began to wake up, immediately noticing that I had a splitting headache. I noticed I was restrained to some kind of metal slab. The top of my costume, my jacket, shirt, gloves, gauntlets and mask had been taken off, only leaving my blue jeans and boots on.

I let out a groan of pain and irritation, as I spoke.

"Where am I?" I asked.

I didn't get an answer. I looked around the room, to see the room filled with people wearing hazmat suits. I assumed that they were scientists. It felt like something was wrong and I tried to figure out what it was.

That's when I noticed it. My wrist. The bare skin that was supposed to be covered by the alien watch. My wrist was now mostly composed of scar tissue. The alien watch was gone, not on either of my wrists.

There was a huge, metal sliding door on the opposite side of the room. On one of the room's walls, were monitors, computers and consoles. After about another minute, the sliding doors opened.

A middle aged man, with grey hair and facial hair walked in, along with a guy with a clipboard in his hands and two men in hazmat suits.

"Ah, our visitor is finally awake. Smith, how many days has it been?" the grey haired man asked.

"Two days, Mr. Enoch, Sir!" the man called Smith said.

"Okay, I want you to go check on his companions." Mr. Enoch said. "Take another blood sample from the girl and then put her back under. A-"

"And the boy, Sir?" Smith asked.

"Let me finish, you little shit!" Mr. Enoch said. "Administer the serum. If he doesn't survive the serum's side effects, you know what to do."

"Yes, Sir." Smith said, before leaving the room.

The scientists spread out again, as Mr. Enoch slowly approached me.

"My gloves, please!" he said.

"Yes, Sir!" someone exclaimed.

A scientist came over with a pair of latex gloves and Mr. Enoch yanked them from his hands. He reached me and stopped. He began to rub my forearm with some kind of liquid, I'm assuming some kind of antiseptic.

"Mr. Tennyson, did you ever mutate like your friend Kevin does?" he asked, as he continued rubbing my arm with the cloth.

I didn't answer him.

"Answer me when I'm talking to you, kid!" he exclaimed in an irritated tone.

"No. I never mutated like he did." I said.

Mr. Enoch nodded, as he tossed the cloth aside. He reached into his suit coat, and pulled out a clear case, which contained a syringe, filled with dark liquid.

"You see, it's really interesting. Kevin can't control his mutated condition, because of an energy signature that both the Omnitrix and the mutation gives off. The energy signature still seems to linger on you, however it seems that the energy wants to "leave" your body and "combine" with Kevin's energy signature. Interesting." Mr. Enoch said, as he opened up the case and brought out the syringe. "Let's see if we can't help him, it, or whatever!"

He put the needle against my skin and pushed it in, into my vein.

"In case this kills you, I just wanted to tell you that I admired your father's work, even though he worked against me and tried to bring down my company." Mr. Enoch said, as he injected me with the substance.

He tossed the syringe aside once he was done injecting me and walked away. I began to feel sick to my stomach. My vision begin to change. The world around me began to spin and then, believe it or not, I began to see in black and white, not color anymore.

The headache was getting worse and then, that's when I noticed it. My skin was changing color and my muscle mass was increasing exponentially. My skin changed it's color to a grayish-black and then, light grey fur began to grow from my skin.

I began snarling, letting out growls of rage. Mr. Enoch turned back around to look at him, with shock and fear, as the transformation completed. Ben ripped away from the restraints that held him.

His middle and ring fingers merged, while his index finger disappearing completely. His fingers changed to black and grew into sharp talons. His nose sort of merged with his mouth and he grew a snout. His ears became elongated.

By this time, he had freed himself from his restraints. He had transformed into some kind of werewolf, or something. He let out a roar as he grabbed the slab and ripped it from where it was bolted to the ground.

He tossed it across the room and it smashed into one of the consoles. He ran past Mr. Enoch, smashing him and sending him flying on the way and ran to the door which closed just as he got to it.

"Put it down!" Mr. Enoch exclaimed, as he crawled on the ground.

The beast that was once Ben began getting shot with tranquilizer darts, but that didn't do anything. He ignored the shots and dug his talons into cracks of the door, and eventually pushed the door apart, allowing him to escape the room.

 _Kevin_

I woke up in the containment chamber that I was always kept in. All of a sudden, the containment field that kept me in shut off.

 _What the hell?_

I ran from the containment chamber to the giant metal sliding door. I began to bang on it, as I yelled for help. All of a sudden, the door was forced open and I came face to face with some kind of giant humanoid, furry creature.

"What the hell are you?" I asked, as I backed up, to which it followed me.

I don't know why, but I felt like I knew the creature. No, I did!

"Wait, I know you!" I exclaimed. "Tennyson!"

I said that last word in a deep voice. A few seconds past and then two mutated monsters were staring at each other. Kevin grabbed the creature and tossed it across the room, crushing a few tables and computer consoles.

Kevin let out a roar as he charged towards the creature. The creature's snout split four ways, and a burst of sonic vibration erupted from it's "mouth", sending Kevin flying across the room.

Kevin slammed into the metal door, denting it. The creature's snout had closed back up and it lunged at Kevin. It began slashing away at Kevin's chest, greating scratches and gashes along his mutated chest.

Letting out a grunt of fury, Kevin kicked the creature away. While the creature was disoriented, Kevin grabbed it by it's leg and began to spin with it. Once he stopped, he hurled the creature into another wall, which was lined with computers and consoles. They were destroyed, to say in the least.

The creature whimpered in pain, as it stood up and hobbled on it's damaged leg. Kevin didn't feel sympathy for the creature. He lunged towards the creature, but it dodged with lightning speed.

Kevin smashed head first into the wall. He got up and turned around, just in time to see the creature force it's way through the door. The door closed behind it, but Kevin had sprinted over to the door in seconds.

Kevin, having four arms at his disposal, forced the door open faster than the creature could. He emerged into the hallway, to see the creature slaughtering the security guards. Literally. The creature had just got done ripping a man in half.

The creature noticed Kevin again, and turned to shriek at him. Kevin made the "your move" gesture. The creature bounded over to Kevin on all fours and upon reaching him, pounced on him. The creature's snout separated once again, before letting out a deafening roar in Kevin's face.

Kevin went deaf for a minute, before kicking the creature off of him. Kevin fired fire balls at the creature, followed by diamonds, which for a time incapacitated the creature. Kevin approached the creature and thrust him through the window, threatening to drop him several stories down.

After doing that, Kevin threw the creature back inside and into a door. The creature got up and although dazed, shrieked at Kevin, before forcing it's way into the next room. Kevin didn't have to push the doors apart this time.

He was right behind the creature and was able to keep the doors from closing this time. At this time, the creature was bounding around the room, destroying various pieces of technology and science equipment.

Kevin tried to get a grasp on him, but the creature was moving fast. Kevin grabbed a big console and proceeded to rip it right off the wall. He threw it at the creature and it didn't have time to dodge. So, the console nailed the creature, sending him through a few lab tables.

Kevin approached the creature, thinking that it was down for good. He picked up the creature, ready to absorb the energy that he could practically smell coming off of it. Then, the creature grabbed either sides of Kevin's face and let out another sonic howl, more deafening than the last one.

Kevin was disoriented and dropped the creature. The creature rolled back onto it's front paws and kicked Kevin with force, sending him flying across the room. Kevin flew up to the ceiling and ended up lodged into a air duct.

Kevin watched as the creature tore up the room below. He began to wedge himself free. Once the creature was directly under him, Kevin fell. He landed directly on the creature, sending him head first into the ground.

Kevin stepped off of the creature and it didn't move. He picked the creature by the neck and began to absorb the energy. Seconds later, the creature had reverted back to Tennyson, with tattered blue jeans and boots.

Kevin dropped Tennyson.

 _Ben_

When I came to, Kevin was standing above me in his mutated form, but his human head was present.

"Kevin, what's going on?" I asked, as I quickly scooted back, away from him.

"I have total control! Again!" he exclaimed, as his head mutated back.

 _Again? How did he lose control in the first place? I thought he had control over his mutation?_

Kevin walked towards the door.

"Which way do you suppose," he spoke, in his normal voice. "Enoch's office is?"

He finished the sentence in his demonic voice that the mutation allowed him to do. He forced the door open and he forced it to stay open. He walked out of the room.

"I have a score to settle." Kevin said, in that demonic voice.

 _Author's Note:_

* I bet you guys didn't expect another chapter this soon. Either way, here it was.

* So, what did everyone think? So, why do you think Gwen was having blood samples taken? How about how after Ben was injected with the serum, he transformed into a Yenaldooshi, without the assistance of the Omnitrix? Do you think that one day he'll be able to transform without it? I won't confirm it. Was the fight between the creature (Ben in Yenaldooshi form) and Kevin satisfying?

* Anyway, I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.


	47. Chapter 46: The Organization: Part Six

Chapter 46: The Organization: Part Six

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty six! This is the second to last part of The Organization arc!

* So, I'll say this. This chapter will probably be the last time that Kevin and Ben have a fight. And S.E.C.T. will finally be making a bigger appearance in this arc, starting in this chapter. So, get ready guys, because this is gonna be a big chapter. Enjoy!

 _Ben_

Kevin seemingly had full control over his mutation now. And I couldn't figure out whether that was good or bad. There was one thing I knew I had to do, though. As I looked down at myself, to see only my tattered jeans and boots, I knew I had to find the top of my costume and the alien watch.

I ran out of the room, through the door that he had forced to stay open. Upon moving out into the hallway, I was met with a grisly sight. I saw one of Mr. Enoch's guards, torn in half at the waist. I could just barely begin to see his intestines.

I retched, before turning and puking all over the tile floor. I looked back at the body and stared at the man's lifeless eyes.

 _Could I have done this?_

I panted after I was done vomiting. I continued running, following the trail of destruction.

 _What the hell happened here?_

I also noticed that the windows lining the wall, a portion of them were shattered. I ran through another door, that was broken open, but found myself in a dead end. I found myself in a room, with destroyed computers.

"This isn't the right way." I told myself as I left the room.

I ran out of the room and my heart dropped. I hid behind a trash can, as the door at the other end of the hall opened. I peered through the little opening in the top of the trash can, to see a squad of security guards.

"If you find him, sedate him. The entire building is on lock down." one of the guards said.

I hid back behind the trash can again, out of sight. I waited until the three men walked past the trash can, not noticing me. They turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I moved from my hiding spot and lightly began to jog for the door they came from.

I stopped at the door, which was closed. I looked around, to try to figure out how to open the door. I saw a touch pad on the wall next to the door. I lightly tapped it. The door opened.

 _Is it really that easy?_

I walked through the door, to see this hallway was clear of any hostile person. But, there was another trail of destruction. I quietly snuck over to another trash can and took cover behind it.

I looked over and I saw an open door. I got up from my cover and snuck over to the door. I looked in and recognized the room. It was the room that Mr. Enoch had kept me in.

"Hey, you!" someone exclaimed.

I turned to see a guard staring at me. It was at that time that I could hear the "spotted" sound effect from Metal Gear Solid in my head. I ran into the room and tapped the touch pad from the inside, which closed the door.

I knew that I didn't have much time, so I looked around for the alien watch and the top part of my costume. after searching the room a little bit, I found a black trash bag that was sitting by a table. Next to it, was a canister of some kind.

I ran over to it and ripped open the trash bag, seeing the parts of my costume that were missing. I wasted no time in slipping on the rest of my costume. I put my mask on my head, but didn't pull it down over my face yet.

I picked up the canister on the table and opened it up, to see the alien watch inside. I heard the doors open behind me.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" I heard Mr. Enoch's voice.

I turned around, to see Mr. Enoch walking in, with a cane of some sort, accompanied by three security guards.

"You put that down this instant! That doesn't belong to you!" Mr. Enoch exclaimed.

I looked at him, as I pulled down my mask.

"This is my curse. And I'm taking it back." I said, as the alien watch jumped back onto my wrist.

I activated the Omnitrix and transformed into Diamondhead. I shot his security guards with diamond shards, causing them to stagger backwards. They didn't move or try to get up afterwards.

I didn't feel any remorse about potentially killing his men. I highly doubted that the activities that Mr. Enoch and the Forever Knights were doing were actually legal.

"Okay, now that I have dispatched of your security, you're going to tell me where my friends are, and I'm leaving with them." I replied, as I stepped a bit closer.

"Are you kidding me? You think I'm actually going to tell you where your friends are at?" he asked, as he reached down to pick up one of the officer's guns. "Let alone let you leave? No. You aren't leaving here alive."

 _Wrong answer._

I approached him, as he began firing at me, but my diamond "skin" deflected all of the shots. I stopped in front of him, but he didn't look scared. I knocked the gun from his hands and grabbed his hand.

I squeezed down on his hand and heard bones crushing in my grip. As I did this, he let out screams of agony. I tossed him across the floor and he slid a little bit. I approached him again.

"Let's try this again." I said. "Where are my friends?!"

"The computer against the wall, needs my hand print to activate..." Mr. Enoch said.

I grabbed his damaged hand and dragged him across the room to where the computer was, as he screamed in agony. We reached the computer and I slammed his hand up on the pad.

"Scan your hand!" I angrily exclaimed.

He did so and eventually the screen flashed.

"They're down on the next floor, in room's 47-A and 47-B. Just take the elevator on this floor down one." he said, in an agonized voice.

"Show me." I said in angry voice, I picked him up by the back of his suit coat.

"Sure." he said, in an even more agonized voice.

I left the room, holding Mr. Enoch up as I ran. He directed me the whole way to the elevator and it was there that he told me that they were somewhere on the next floor down.

"Thanks." I said, as I tossed him aside.

I forced the elevator doors open and jumped down, grabbing the wires that held the elevator and slid down, to the next doors down. I forced the doors open and ran down the hallway.

Luckily, 47-A and 47-B were right next door to each other. You might think that they make be across the hall from each other or on different sides, but no. They were right there and I don't think I've ever felt happier.

I not only forced the first door open, but I slammed against it, practically denting it beyond recognition, before forcing it open. I ran in and my spirits were lifted, to see Gwen restrained onto a metal slab, wearing a gown of some kind.

"Gwen!" I exclaimed, as I ran over to the slab.

I tore off the restraints and gently took her off of the slab. She didn't respond.

"Gwen?" I asked, as I gently stroked her face. "Gwen, are you there?"

She began to open her eyes and she looked up at me.

"Ben?" she asked in a weak voice. "Where are we? What happened?"

"Everything's okay. We're fine. We were just captured." I said. "They injected me with some kind of serum that caused me to mutate like Kevin. Kevin and I got into a fight, I think. And I think he beat me. That's all I remember before I recovered my clothes and the alien watch."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Don't worry about me." I said. "What about you? What did they do to hurt you?!"

I was a little too protective when I asked the questions.

"I don't think they hurt me, at least not that I know." Gwen said. "I came to once, and I witnessed them take a blood sample from me. I think they've taken multiple samples. How long have we been here?"

"We've been here for two days." I said.

"Two days?" she asked, as she tried to sit up.

I didn't let her sit up. If they had been taking blood samples from her for two days, than she must have been weak. I was grateful that she was alive, but average people may not be able to survive getting so much blood taken from them.

"They said that I was an Anodite something. Does that mean anything to you?" she asked.

"Sorry. I've never heard of that name." I said.

She just stared lazily off into space.

"Okay, find your costume," I said. "Mine was in a black trash bag. We have to find Albedo and get you two home. I still have to find Kevin and end all of this."

Just then, Enoch's voice came up over the intercom.

"Attention! Mr. Tennyson has taken it upon himself to break out Subject's Delta and Sigma!" he exclaimed. "They are not to leave this building alive!"

"You son of a bitch..." I said, through gritted teeth.

The intercom turned off and I looked at Gwen. I pulled her close and put my lips to her ear.

"Find your costume. I'll buy you time to get dressed from outside." I said. "I won't let anyone in this room. I promise."

Before she could protest, I gently sat her down, got up and ran to the door. I forced it open, stepped out and it closed behind me. I waited and no more than a minute later, the entire hall had a squad of guards in it.

I leveled out both of my arms into daggers.

"Okay, who's first?" I asked.

They all opened fire on me, but I didn't have to block the shots. I ran up to the nearest guard and hit him in the head with the blunt side of my blade. He fell and didn't get back up.

"You'll never take me alive!" I exclaimed, as I charged the security officers, while staying close to the door.

My hands changed back into their normal form and I grabbed one of the guards. I threw him towards another guard, and he barreled through two of his colleagues. I saw a guard going for the door, and I fired a few diamonds into his back.

He screamed and fell to the ground, while dropping his weapon. I ran over to two of them and grabbed both of their heads, and slammed them together, causing them to fall over. Two of the guards got back up, and ran for the door.

I fired diamonds at their back and they ceased to move. I almost began to feel sympathy for what I was doing, but than I remembered the sick things that Mr. Enoch and these assholes did.

There where no more guards now. I forced my way back through the doors to the room where Gwen was. She was now fully dressed, with her mask and utility on. She was struggling to walk, she braced herself against the slab and as she tried to walk, she stumbled.

I instantly ran to her and caught her. I helped her up and she put her arm around me, even though in my Diamondhead form, I was taller than her.

"It's okay. I got you." I said.

I turned around and fired a diamond shard into the door's touch pad, disabling the door's controls and forcing the door to open. I walked out of the room and down the hall to Room 47-B and did the same thing.

After shooting the pad, the door opened up. I walked in, expecting to see Albedo restrained onto a metal slab, but no. He was suspended in the air, believe it or not. There were some kind of wire that was holding him in the air, and he was shirtless, with some kind of nodes on his chest, to detect heartbeat and lung activity, I guess.

I wasn't a doctor and I didn't know what exactly the things on his chest were.

 _What the fuck were these monsters doing to him?_

I now noticed that his pale skin was even more pale than usual. He wasn't dead. The heart monitor had a steady beat on it. I gently sat Gwen down on the floor and she put her back up against the wall.

"Stay here, okay?" I asked.

She nodded, without saying a word. I went back up to Albedo, suspended in the air. It was now that I noticed that Albedo still had his "Dark Omnitrix" as he called it, on his wrist.

 _If they didn't want his Omnitrix, then what did they want from him?_

I snapped all of the wires and ropes, hearing the heart monitor flat line as I cut that wire. I caught Albedo before he could hit the floor. I laid him down on the ground and began tapping his face.

His mouth began to open, followed by his eyes. As his eyes opened, I expected to see his red eyes. No, his eyes were black. He blinked for a split second, and then his eyes were back to their natural color.

I noticed that he had fangs in place of four teeth in his mouth. But when he closed his mouth and opened it again to speak, they were gone. But I knew I wasn't seeing things this time. I knew I had seen those fangs in his mouth, but they weren't there now.

"What the fuck?" he asked me.

"Are you okay?" I asked back.

"I think so." he responded. "What the hell did they do to us?"

"They injected me with some kind of serum, that caused me to mutate like Kevin, I think. My experience as the creature was hazy, I hardly remember anything." I said. "They took multiple blood samples from Gwen. She's right over there."

I pointed to her. Albedo sat up and saw her.

"Hey." he croaked out, loud enough for her to hear.

She didn't speak back, but she barely waved at him. I kind of expected that. She kind of hates him. I couldn't decide wether or not she hardly waved because of how weak she was, or if it was because of her hate for him. The first one seemed more likely.

"Can you find the rest of your clothes?" I asked. "Gwen's and my clothes were both found in black trash bags."

Albedo and I both looked around the room, to eventually find a black trash bag.

"How convenient." Albedo said, as he shakily stood up and slowly walked over to the trash bag.

He ripped it open and took out the red shirt and black hoodie that he wore on a daily basis. As he was got his clothes back on, I reverted back to my human form.

"Ah, shit." I said, as I looked back down at my human hands.

I looked at the watch, to see that it was red. After I returned home, for my own health, I hacked back into the watch's system and re-enabled the recharge process.

Albedo shakily walked back over to me. He walked better than Gwen did, but it was still evident that he was weak as well. I gestured him to follow me, as I returned to Gwen and helped her up. We left the room and switched Gwen over to Albedo, and asked him to help her walk.

"Okay, you guys get home safe." I said.

"What?!" Gwen asked, evidently upset. "We get home safe? You're coming with us!"

I shook my head.

"No, I'm not." I said. "I have unfinished business with Mr. Enoch, and I have to find Kevin."

"You're coming home with us!" she exclaimed, in a hoarse voice.

She ran up to me and aggressively hugged me. She pulled up my mask and we shared a passionate kiss. That may have been the longest kiss we've ever shared.

"I can fight with you!" she said, once she pulled away.

I shook my head.

"No, you can't! You can hardly stand!" I said. "You need to get home!"

I turned.

"Keep her safe." I said to Albedo. "Promise me you'll keep her safe!"

"Um, sure. But, why would I need to protect her? Are we going to be followed?" he asked.

I turned around to face him.

"We have no idea they injected trackers into our bodies." I said. "Be on your guard."

I knew I'd regret it, but I walked away.

"Now get out of here and stay safe!" I exclaimed.

 _Thirty Minutes Later_

I eventually found an entrance to the air vents and traveled through them, until I found an entrance to Mr. Enoch's office. I quietly removed the vent cover and slowly dropped down behind him.

He was armed with a .34 Magnum and he eventually turned to fire at me. But he was too slow. I kicked the gun out of his good hand and he exclaimed with pain. He held his hand the best he could in pain.

"My parents!" I exclaimed with anger. "Tell me about my parents!"

I knew that he knew about my parents, because he almost made a point to mention my dad when he was injecting me.

He reached into a filing cabinet and brought out a hefty sized file. He turned around and held it out to me.

"Anything you could ever want to know about your parents and Director Steel of S.E.C.T. are in this file." he said.

I reached for it. Before I could grab it, the large window in his office, overlooking the roof and helicopter pad outside shattered, as a large hulking creature lunged into the room. I knew it was Kevin.

I blacked out for a good few minutes, I think. When I came to, Enoch was gone and so was Kevin. Well, not completely. I think I saw Enoch outside, trying to work the helicopter that was outside. I took the door of his office outside to the roof, and I saw that blonde mercenary standing in front of me.

I got into a fighting stance and she approached me, and put her hand on my chest. For some reason, I relaxed and she didn't attack.

"Down, boy." she said. "My contract with Mr. Enoch expired fifteen minutes ago."

"But, what about when you attacked me and my friends?!" I exclaimed.

"Eh, call it even." she said, as she walked past me. "Good luck, kid. And don't worry about Mr. Enoch getting away. He can't fly that chopper. Don't worry about him, period. He's just a sad old man."

I turned back and looked up at Kevin, seeing him perched on the roof above. It's as if he was watching Enoch, stalking his prey. He eventually jumped down and ran towards the helicopter.

"Enoch!" he roared with fury, before jumping over to attack the helicopter.

 _Well, I guess I'm protecting Mr. Enoch from Kevin. Do I really have to? Not really, but I feel obligated to. It's like she said. He's just a sad old man, and I don't see killing him to be worth it. Well, time to teach Kevin where he's messing up._

I ran up to Kevin, as fast as I could. Once I got up to him, I began to punch him in the back. He staggered a little as I hit him, but disregarded what I said, as I continued to hit the helicopter.

I began to hit him again, and this time, he wasted no time in grabbing me by the face. He threw me across and off of the roof. I let out a whoop of shock, as I grappled one of the towers on the roof and spun around to the tower, grabbing one of the metal support rods to hold myself in place.

I had heard something above me, so I looked up to see some kind of drop ship hovering above. The gangplank opened and a dozen S.E.C.T. troopers jetted down. Not to the roof, but to the ground to enter through the ground floor.

"Okay thanks, assholes." I said, as the alien watch turned green again. "Took your sweet time."

 _Okay, no more messing around._

I activated the alien watch and turned back into Diamondhead. I jumped back down to the roof and saw that the tail of the helicopter was just hovering over the edge of roof. I wasted no time in approaching Kevin and began hitting him from behind. He became distracted from Enoch's chopper and followed me around as I ran from him.

He swung at me and I dodged the first strike, but he hit me with the second strike. I sailed a few feet across the roof and by the time I had gotten back up, Kevin was already back over to the helicopter. I let out a gruff sigh, before running back up to him.

"Kevin! Enoch doesn't want to play with you!" I exclaimed, as I jumped through the air and fired diamond shards at him.

"Get the hell off!" he exclaimed, as he hit me with his arm, without taking his focus off of the helicopter.

I fell backwards, and sprayed Kevin's back with diamond shards. He roared with pain and/or agitation. He turned around and continued to fight with me. He started throwing fire balls at me and I dodged all of them. In hind sight, I probably should have taken them instead of dodging them.

The fire balls hit fuel barrels and blew them up, igniting half of the roof. Kevin was already back to the helicopter and I ran back to him. I hit him with a barrage of punches.

"Kevin, stop being stupid!" I exclaimed.

He turned around and tried to attack, but I flipped backwards. I landed on my feet and sprayed diamond shards into his face. He was blinded temporarily and I took the opportunity to round house kick him in the face several times.

He fell over and that's when I heard the nightmare inducing beeping of the watch, telling me it was about to revert me back to human form. And when I did, Kevin had recovered. He grabbed me and tossed me across and off of the roof, to a neighboring rooftop.

I had no idea what I could do now, but I still couldn't let Kevin kill Enoch. He was just a sad old man. Nothing more, nothing less. I watched, as Kevin slowly walked back towards the helicopter. I guess Enoch was just hiding in the chopper.

I backed up and fired my grappling hooks into two air conditioning units. I walked back as far as the gauntlets could let me. I was restricted from moving back any farther.

 _Okay, here's to hoping this works._

I pressed a button, which pulled me forward at a fast speed. I could of sworn I heard the wires on my gauntlets snapping, as I soared past the units and through the air, back towards the other rooftop.

Before Kevin could even react or get to the helicopter, I nailed him in the face with my boots. He fell over and didn't get back up. I was breathing fast at this point, glad that it was finally over.

I now noticed that a few S.E.C.T. agents were finally entering onto the rooftop. I heard Kevin roar from behind me as he got back up. Not to show off to S.E.C.T., but this is how I responded.

"Sit down, Kevin!" I exclaimed, as I turned around and began to punch him.

I landed three punches in his torso area, then hit him in the chin with an uppercut. He did a full backflip, eventually landing on his head and settling onto the floor of the roof, not moving anymore. I turned back around, holding my arm in pain as I did.

 _It was finally over._

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter!

* What did you guys think? Um, Gwen and Albedo being named Subject Delta and Subject Sigma were references to BioShock 2. And obviously, I think you guys can pick out the reference to Metal Gear Solid. Was Ben right to tell Gwen and Albedo to go home? Ben was so close to getting answers about his parent's involvement in S.E.C.T.! And the final battle between Kevin and Ben? How about Ben referring to the Omnitrix as a curse? What do you think will happen in the next chapter, which is the final part of this arc?

* So, that's it for this time around. Please favorite, follow and review the story if you enjoy it! I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.


	48. Chapter 47: The Organization: Part Seven

Chapter 47: The Organization: Part Seven

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty seven!

* This part will be wrapping up the arc and a few parts of this chapter may actually be shocking to you readers. Kevin's definitely going to pull something that may or may not surprise readers at the end of this chapter. Just saying. I'm not even going to say anything else. Let's just get on with this chapter!

 _Ben_

It was over. I finally knew everything there was to know about my parent's time in S.E.C.T. a decade and a half ago. After defeating Kevin, for hopefully the last time, I went back to the remains of Enoch's office and grabbed the file.

Right now, I was sitting on the edge of the rooftop, mask off, reading all of the papers that were in the big file. A few S.E.C.T. agents walked past as I leafed through the papers, but none of them batted an eye.

My parents were agents of S.E.C.T., Agents Speedster and Deadeye to be exact. And I wasn't really surprised to see that "Agent Steel" in the files was revealed to be a younger Director Steel of S.E.C.T. My question though was: How did he go from an agent, to the Director in under probably a decade?

The events of the night where my parents and Director Steel assaulted the Forever Knights building was a blur on paper. I didn't even make full sense out of it. A few things stood out to me, which I'll get to after I go over this little bit of information.

There was a letter in the files, that was addressed to me! And it was written a month after I was born!

 _Dear Ben,_

 _I have all of these things in my head. Things that I want to say. Things about the world that we live in, that as your father, I feel obligated to tell you. You will find that in this world, there are people who you are just going to look at and think: "Why does this person do the things that they do?"_

 _In the last few months, I've found myself surrounded by people who will do or say anything, just to have the appearance that they are better than you and I. And Mr. William Enoch is one of those people. I cannot even begin to tell you the things that my squad and I saw in that building that night._

 _I hate to ask you to just speculate about the things that we saw in there, but I just cannot bring myself to mention the horrific things that we saw in there. It was a horrific night in general. And I'm not even mentioning that your mother's, as well as my squad mate didn't leave the building alive._

 _I didn't mean to keep all of this from you for so long, it's just that you weren't old enough to know about the stuff that your mother and I endured as agents of the Special Extra-Terrestrial Containment Team. And when you're reading this, after I've gone, I won't be able to tell you in person what these things were like or tell you things that you need to hear in general._

 _Our family is a weird family. We're not a normal Earth, human family like you probably think we are. Let me start at the beginning. Your Grandfather, Maxwell Tennyson got together with an Anodite, an alien that I can only describe as being an "energy being". Her name was Verdona._

 _And she was your Uncle Frank's mother, as well as mine. Uncle Frank, as you know, married your Aunt Natalie Tennyson, who is not an Anodite-Human hybrid, unlike your Uncle, Cousin and I. Your Uncle and I do not have powers, our mother is an Anodite, again. We didn't get her powers. However, Frank seems to have passed down a hidden gene, to your cousin Gwen._

 _It's still early, but she has shown signs of having suppressed Anodite abilities. We still don't know, but it looks that way. I don't mean to ramble on about all of this, but one day I may not be around to tell you these things. But if I am around, I promise we will eventually talk about it. When you're old enough._

 _Love You Forever and Always,_

 _Carl Tennyson_

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see Director Steel standing above me. I quickly put the letter back in the folder and stood up to meet him.

"Director Steel." I said.

"Ben. You did good today, kid." he said. "Despite you disobeying my orders."

"I'm sorry, Sir. I just had to find out what was going on here and what they had done to Kevin." I said.

"It's alright kid, calm down." he said, putting up a hand and lightly smiling. "Like I said, you did good, -"

"Thanks, Sir." I interrupted him. "But, I-"

He interrupted me as well.

"- Which is why I want you to be an agent of S.E.C.T." he finished. "I can train you, get you out of those clothes and into something more fitting. I can't accommodate your whole team, but for you, it'll be worth doing, I think."

I was in shock.

 _Me? A S.E.C.T. agent? But, I'd have to leave Albedo and Gwen behind... Can I do that? Do I have the guts to just leave them?_

I discussed the matter with him for several minutes, before eventually realizing that I had to do something. I pointed at the file as I spoke.

"Kevin needs to see this. It's about the night my parents hit this place." I said. "It even has some stuff in it about his parents, too."

"Kevin's not here. He was gone before I got up here." Director Steel said, as he walked away. "We'll find him. We always do."

I glared at him as he walked away. There were two survivors of the incident at the Forever Knights building seventeen and a half years ago. My mother and father. They both reported to S.E.C.T. afterwards, saying they both saw the same thing.

They said Director Steel, Agent Steel at the time, had taken my dad's prototype of the Omnitrix and transformed, eventually mutating into a monster, similar to how Kevin did weeks ago.

Agent Steel was said to be caught in an explosion while he was in the mutated form. My mother and father never saw him alive again. Now, I don't know if Agent Steel actually did die, or if he cheated death, but I was curious and I was going to ask him about it one day.

I highly doubted that the device on my wrist was the same one that my dad had made. If it wasn't, than I had no idea how my alien watch came into existence. If it matters, a day or two after the events of that night, my mother revealed to my father that she was two months pregnant with me. They resigned from S.E.C.T. shortly after that. And eventually, in December, Gwen and I were born on the same day.

There was something else in the file. For some reason, a copy of Kevin's birth certificate was in the file, and so was Director Steel's information. Kevin's full name on his birth certificate was listed as Kevin Ethan Levin, Jr. And what was Director Steel's real name? That's right. Kevin Levin, Sr. So, Director Steel abandoned his wife (if he was married) and his unborn son at the time. Maybe he didn't know that his wife was expecting a child, that was never revealed in the files. Just that Director Steel is Kevin's father.

I thought about Director Steel, or Kevin Levin, Sr's words to me.

 _We'll find him. We always do._

I sighed and decided it was time to get home.

 _Kevin_

 _Days Later_

 _Elsewhere, off the coast of the United States..._

I was perched up on the roof above, overlooking the yard of the S.E.C.T. controlled prison. This is where they sent Enoch after they collected him. He got a few years in this prison, which I thought was bullshit. He deserved the death penalty.

His incarceration was out of the government's hands, and S.E.C.T. handled it. I watched as Enoch, in an orange jumpsuit, walked alone in the yard. I changed into my human form and dropped down quietly, before sneaking up on Enoch.

"Mr. Enoch, I have been looking forward to this." I said, as I reached him.

He whirled around in surprise to face me.

"Kevin? I can't believe-" he began to speak, but I cut him off.

"You know what I can't believe?" I asked, as I stepped closer. "I can't believe that after all the things you did, all the things you made me do, the things that you did to Ben and his friends, that after all of that, all you got was five years in an off the coast prison!"

Enoch backed up with fear.

"You can't touch me in here! The guards won't let you! They have cameras!"

"Cameras aren't very useful when turned off." I said, as I mutated back into the giant alien, before reaching for Enoch.

 _Ben_

 _Present Day_

 _Close To Midnight_

I stared off into the night, while sitting on the roof of my house. I couldn't sleep well, so I got out of bed and decided to go sit on the roof and watched the night sky for a while. I heard someone grunt with pain and I looked over to the other side of the roof, to see Gwen levitating over the roof, before falling.

"Gwen!" I exclaimed with worry, as I got up and ran over to her, helping her up. "What are you doing up here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing." Gwen said in a weak voice, as she hugged herself against me. "I woke up and you weren't in bed with me _again_."

"I couldn't sleep." I said, as I sat back down, with Gwen snuggling against me. "I just have too much on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked quietly.

"I wouldn't know where to begin. Some of it is in the stuff I read in the big file that Enoch gave me, but most of it," I said. "is Kevin. He was nowhere to be found after S.E.C.T. arrived."

"And you wish you knew where he was?" she asked.

I nodded.

"He's out there. Somewhere. And I'm not sure whether I'm afraid _of_ him or _for_ him." I said.

 _Kevin_

I was perched on top of one of the highest buildings in Bellwood. I was hunched over, but eventually stood and looked up at the night sky, letting out a deafening roar as it began to thunder.

I dove from the rooftop, wondering where this mutation would take me next.

 _Ben_

"But he's not here." Gwen whispered to me.

"I know." I said back.

"I'm here." she said, forcing me to look at her. "And I love you."

"I know. I love you, too." I whispered, as I pulled her closer to me and continued to watch the night sky.

 _?_

 _Elsewhere..._

"Men." I spoke, as I walked into my new office.

"Hello, Mr. Enoch." all of the men in my office spoke in unison.

I sat down in my chair.

"Pull up the view in Lab Room 48-A." I said, as I pulled myself up to my desk.

"Beginning now, Sir!" Smith, my butler, said.

I looked at the screen on my desk, seeing into Lab Room 48-A. I was looking at a early stage fetus, that was slowly growing within a chemical bath. I grinned, as I tapped my pen on my desk.

"We are in business." I said. "Our next big project is in development."

"Sir?" one of the scientists asked.

"Alright, get to work boys." I said, as I grinned. "Don't fuck this project up. This could save the Forever Knights."

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this arc, as well as this chapter!

* So, what did you think of the revelations that Ben had, when going through the files? How about that letter, that Ben's father wrote for him? If you are a bit confused about what happened at the prison, then Kevin killed Enoch in prison. But if that's the case... Then who is this Enoch character that has showed up at the end? And speaking of Enoch, what do you think is going on at the end there? I know I didn't mention (or Ben didn't mention) whether or not he accepted Steel's invitation into S.E.C.T. Well, the answer to that will be in the next chapter.

* One last thing, if the scene where Ben says he's not sure to be afraid of Kevin or for Kevin seems familiar, it should. I used the scene for a chapter about fifteen or so chapters ago, but I edited it out, because it didn't seem like it fit well there. I put it at the end of this chapter, because Ben having no idea where Kevin went after the conflict at the Forever Knights building, it felt like the perfect place to put that scene. Just wanted to point that out.

* Well, before I go, I just want to say this. After the last chapter, probably starting in Chapter forty nine, there is going to huge story arc, that will just be big for the story. It'll be a long arc, lasting maybe ten parts. Anyway, I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye!


	49. Chapter 48: Secret of the Omnitrix

Chapter 48: Secret of the Omnitrix

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty eight!

* So uh, in this chapter comes the twist that my take on the Omnitrix comes with. And in this chapter as well, you'll learn if Ben decided to join S.E.C.T. or not. And again, starting next chapter, is one of the biggest arcs of this story.

* Anyway, please favorite, follow and review if you enjoyed The Organization arc. So, let's get into this chapter!

 _Ben_

I woke up the next morning at about seven thirty. Gwen was still asleep and probably still weak from the ordeal that we met at the Forever Knights building. So, I decided to just let her sleep.

I quietly got out of bed and left the room, grabbing the file from Enoch along the way. I walked down the hall towards the kitchen, stopping to get a drink. I got a drink of water, gulped it down pretty fast and proceeded to the basement.

I walked quietly down the stairs, as that's where Albedo slept, on the basement couch that is. I quietly slipped past the couch that Albedo was sleeping on, and that's when I noticed it. Albedo was asleep under at least two or three blankets. And even under that much warmth, he appeared to be shivering!

 _What the fuck did they do to him?_

I reached out to wake him, but stopped myself.

 _No, that's not right. If I wake him, he'll probably be cranky._

I proceeded to the secret room and pulled the light string, illuminating the room. I quietly plopped myself down into a chair, laid down the big file on the desk and opened it. Just because this whole thing was over, didn't mean that there wasn't research for me to do.

I flipped through anything, seeing if there was anything I had missed. But sadly, there was not.

 _Time is running out._

I looked up and around the room.

 _Wait, what? Those aren't my thoughts, again. But, time is running out for what?_

Maybe I'm more messed up than I thought. I let out a sigh, as I laid down my head on top of the file. I'll close my eyes for just a few minutes...

 _A Few Hours Later_

I woke up in a cold sweat and sprang upwards to the sound of cackling. I fell out of my chair, cursing myself for being so fast and clumsy.

"You okay in there, dude?" I heard Albedo ask. "I thought I heard a cackling sound."

I got up and walked into the main room.

"You heard it too?" I asked him.

He turned to face me.

"Who knows? I've been shivering, seeing things and other stuff's been happening ever since we left the building yesterday." he said.

"Well, if we did just hear what we think we had heard, which we both know what it is, don't tell Gwen about it?" I asked.

"Deal." Albedo turned back around to watch the t.v. "Why would she talk to me anyway?"

I went back into the secret room and turned the light off. I went to the stairs and went upstairs. I walked into the living room, expecting to see Gwen on the couch, but she wasn't there.

I went into the bedroom, to see Gwen asleep under the covers still. But she was visibly shivering. I sighed, leaving the bedroom and opened the closet to get another blanket. I went back into the bedroom and draped the blanket over the blanket that she was already asleep under. She began to stir and opened her eyes.

"Ben?" she asked, as she tried to sit up. "What's -"

I gently pushed her back down.

"Don't try to sit up. You're still weak." I said, as I left the room. "I'll be right back."

I walked into the kitchen and got a glass down from the cabinet. I filled it with water and then returned to the bedroom with the glass. I handed it to Gwen and she took it.

"There. Drink that." I said.

"Why?" she asked.

"You're weak. And we have no idea how much blood they took from you." I said. "You need to drink a lot of water and giving blood."

"How do you know that?" Gwen asked, before taking a drink.

"I thought it was common sense." I said, as I waited for her to speak again.

"Common sense doesn't work with you." she replied.

I shook my head in disapproval.

"Don't joke around. I'm really worried about you and Albedo." I said.

"What's wrong with Albedo?" she asked.

"I went downstairs this morning, to see that he was underneath like three blankets, and even under all of that, he was still shivering." I said.

"Jeez." she said. "What did they do to him while we were trapped there?"

"I don't know." I said.

I took the glass from her, now that she had drank all the water. I walked out of the room to refill her glass. Once I did, I returned to the room and handed it back to her.

"Drink that. I have to get dressed." I said, as I got up from the bed.

"You going somewhere?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to go see Grandpa Max and question him about my parents's involvement with S.E.C.T." I said. "I'm taking the file with me to show him."

"Can I see the file?" she asked.

"Can you wait til later?" I asked back.

"No." she said.

I let out a sigh.

"Fine. I'll be right back." I said, as I left the room.

I walked back to the hall before the basement stairs and back down the stairs. I walked into the basement and past the couch.

"What's up, now?" Albedo asked.

"Gwen wants to see the file I got from Enoch." I said, as I entered the secret room. "She insists that it can't wait."

"You'd be crazy not to marry that woman dude." he said from the couch.

I walked back into the main basement after getting the big file and looked at Albedo.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" I asked.

"What do I mean? Come on, man! That woman has gone absolutely gaga for you!" he exclaimed. "She could be a innocent woman or a strong, tough as nails woman! She could be dominating you, rather than you dominating her!"

Both of our faces flushed after he said that. We remained silent for maybe a minute.

"I'm going to ask you to never say that again." I said.

"Yeah..." he said, as I walked away with the file in hand. "Sorry about that."

"Don't. Just don't." I said, as I walked up the stairs.

I walked out of the hall and back towards the bedroom. I walked in to see Gwen sitting up in bed, with her glass of water sitting on the night stand.

"What did I tell you about sitting up?" I said, as I sat down on the bed.

"I'm fine." Gwen said, as she took the file from me.

"Don't try to change the subject." I said, pulling the file back. "You aren't fine! They could have taken pints and pints of blood from you!"

"I'm fine!" she exclaimed in a hoarse voice, as she pulled back on the file.

"That isn't want fine sounds like!" I said, as I pulled the file backwards. "As soon as you are done reading through these, you are lying back down!"

"Fine!" she said, as she finally pulled the file away from me.

She opened up the file and began to flip through the papers. She eventually came to Kevin's birth certificate and Director Steel's information.

"Director Steel is Kevin's father?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Apparently. And I don't think that Steel knows that Kevin is his son." I said.

She didn't respond, but put both papers back in the file and continued to flip through them. Then, she found the letter that my father had written to me seventeen years ago. She began to read it.

"There's that name again. Anodite! And I'm a hybrid of one?" she asked. "And, I don't recall having a "Grandma Verdona"! Ben, what does all of this mean?"

I sighed.

"It means that we don't know as much about our lives as we thought we did." I finally said.

She flipped through it for another ten minutes, leaving me impatient. She eventually closed the file and handed it back to me.

"When are you heading out?" she asked.

"Right now." I said, as I walked out of the room. "Right after I call him."

"I'm coming, too. Get Albedo." she said, as I stopped after I heard her say that.

I turned around to face her.

"No way. Nada. You're staying here." I said, as she got out of bed. "Get back in bed!"

She ignored me and stood up, stumbling a little before fully gaining her balance. I put my hand out to her and she surprised me by aggressively grabbing my wrist.

"I'm fine and I'm coming with you!" she said. "I can't let you out of my sight after all of this nonsense with the Forever Knights!"

I let out a sigh.

"Go get Albedo!" she exclaimed.

"Fine." I said, as I walked out of the room.

I walked through the living room and kitchen, and towards to the basement stairs. I walked down the stairs and into the basement.

"Hey, dude?" I asked.

"What?" he asked, not turning to face me.

"Gwen and I are going up to see Grandpa Max and you're coming with us." I said.

"Ugh, why?" he asked.

"I don't know. I guess Gwen just doesn't want anybody in the house when either one of us aren't here." I said.

Albedo didn't reply.

"Albedo!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, fine!" he exclaimed, as he tossed the covers off of his lap and stood up.

He shot off the T.V. and came around to the couch to look at me.

"Can I borrow a jacket?" he asked.

"Why? It's supposed to be ninety degrees today!" I exclaimed.

"I'm cold, okay? Like really fucking cold!" he exclaimed. "Now, about that jacket?"

"Fine! Whatever! Jeez, you don't have to be so snarky about it." I said, as I left the basement.

I heard him following behind me as I walked up the stairs and back into the living room, where Gwen was waiting for us, fully dressed.

"Okay, let's go." Gwen said.

"Not yet." I said, as I walked towards my room, phone in hand as Albedo followed. "I have to call him."

"Um, okay." Gwen said. "You haven't done that yet?"

"No." I said.

 _Five Minutes Later_

"Okay, he's aware that we're coming by." I said, as I came back into the living room, Albedo behind me and wearing a sweater.

Gwen noticed that.

"What's with him?" she asked.

"Don't -" I began to speak, but Albedo interrupted me.

"I'm really fucking cold." he said.

"Okay, thank you Albedo." I said.

"Sure." he said.

"Okay, I'm driving." Gwen replied, as she headed for the door.

"Um, no. I don't think so." I said, as I grabbed her wrist. "I'm driving. You're lucky I'm letting you out of bed."

She glared at me, before giving up. I got my keys out and walked towards the garage, Albedo and Gwen behind me. I got into my car. Gwen sat in the passenger seat and Albedo sat in the back. We were out of there.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

We were close, but not that close. Gwen was silent, Albedo was silent, we were all silent.

"How close are we?" Gwen asked.

"Close." I said.

"Um, shouldn't you slow down? You're going like fifty!" Gwen said.

"Oh, calm down. There's no cars on the road." I said.

"Does that give you to the right to speed?" she asked.

I let out a silent sigh, as I looked in the rear view mirror. I saw Albedo in the back, not wearing a seat belt, lying on the backseat, with his hands behind his head, as if he were just chilling.

"Hey Albedo, how you doing back there? Just chilling out?" I asked.

"Um, yeah?" he asked in a curious voice.

There was no one on the road in front of me, or behind me. I slammed on the brakes and Albedo fell off of the seat.

"Ack! God damn it, Ben!" he exclaimed, as I began laughing. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

I just kept laughing, as Gwen glared at me.

"Ben! What is wrong with you?!" she exclaimed. "That wasn't necessary!"

My laughter and grin ceased.

"Okay, fine. Jesus, apparently I was the only one who found that funny." I said, as I continued driving, this time at a reasonable speed.

Another five minutes and we were there. I got out of the car.

"Alright. Let's get this over with." I said, as I grabbed the file.

Albedo got out of the car and was visibly shivering.

"Jesus Christ, dude." I said, as he looked at me.

"Don't." he said, as he moved forward, very slowly.

I began to walk to the door and out of the blue, Gwen came up to me and leaned on me, as if she needed help walking.

"Gwen, what the hell?" I asked. "Grandpa could find out about us!"

"It's fine." she weakly said. "You said we'd make our relationship work, so we will."

I let out a sigh, as we walked towards the door to the Rustbucket. I knocked on the door, as Gwen and I waited with her arm around me and Albedo waiting behind us. About half a minute later, Grandpa Max answered the door.

"Hey, Ben. Gwen. And you." he said, stepping outside as he looked at Albedo.

He eyed Gwen and I funny.

"What's up with you guys?" she asked.

"She's tired." I said. "Um, we'd like to come in."

"Sure." he said, as he stepped out of the way.

We all walked into the Rustbucket. Albedo sat down on one of the bunk beds, while Gwen and I sat side by side at the table. Grandpa Max stood near the fridge, leaning up against it and waited for what we had to say.

I put the file on the table and opened it. Grandpa Max came over to flip through it.

"Why wasn't I told about this?" I asked.

Grandpa Max just kept flipping through the files.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

I wanted to speak, but Gwen had no intentions of letting me do so.

"We were captured by the Forever Knights." she said.

"What?!" Grandpa Max sternly exclaimed, voice full of worry.

"Gwen! Why would you say that!" I exclaimed.

"It's the truth." Gwen said.

"What do you mean, you were "captured by the Forever Knights"!" Grandpa Max exclaimed.

"My friend Kevin was captured in his mutated form. And after we found the secret room in my basement, which had files detailing a S.E.C.T. operation almost two decades ago." I explained. "And out of curiosity, as well as my worry for Kevin, I went after Kevin. We got captured, and were tested on. Well, Gwen had her blood drawn. Albedo and I were injected with some kind of serum."

"Do you have any idea how serious this is?!" Grandpa Max exclaimed with worry. "Sleeves up! All three of you! _Now_!"

All three of us looked at each other with worry, as we watched Grandpa Max get three needles from the on-board lab that the Rustbucket featured. I sighed, as all three of us pulled up our sleeves.

Grandpa started with Gwen, which alarmed me.

"Grandpa, she has already had blood taken from her! Possibly more than a pint!" I exclaimed. "She can't have anymore blood taken!"

"I'm sorry, Ben!" he exclaimed. "But I have to be sure!"

 _Sure of what? What is he talking about? All that they did was draw blood from her!_

Grandpa Max quickly got blood from Gwen, then moved on to me. I said nothing as he drew blood from me, but I looked away. I had a fear of needles. He moved onto Albedo next.

"Why are you wearing a jacket?" he asked.

"I'm cold, sir." he said.

"Don't call me sir. Makes me sound older than I really am." Grandpa Max said. "Just call me Max. Why are you cold?"

I stood in for Albedo.

"I came downstairs early this morning, and saw that he was covered with three blankets, and he was still shivering." I said.

Grandpa Max looked at me.

"Okay, that worries me." he said, as he turned back to Albedo and inserted the needle.

"Why?" I asked.

"There are a couple alien species that relate to that." Grandpa Max replied. "I just want to make sure."

"Make sure of what?" I asked.

"Sorry Ben. I don't want to worry you." he said.

"Already worried, Grandpa." I said.

He drew back the needle and went back to the lab station. He sat all three of the syringes down on the table.

"This will take a day at the most to process all of this." he said, as he began to work.

"What about the Forever Knights thing?" I asked. "Why wasn't I told?! What else are you holding back from me?!"

"Calm down, Ben!" Gwen said.

Grandpa Max turned around to face me.

"Ben, it's not up to me. I'm not the one that needs to tell you all about this stuff." he said. "Your dad is the one who needs to tell you. Either wait for him to tell you himself, or ask him when they get back."

I looked down with disappointment.

"Anything else I should know?" Grandpa Max said.

"Yeah. Director Steel offered me a position in S.E.C.T." I said.

"Really?" Grandpa Max exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. "That's so exciting! Congratulations, Ben! I'm s-"

I interrupted.

"I said no." I said, as I looked up at him.

"Wait, what? You said no?" he asked. "Why would you do so?"

"Because he said he only had room for me. He couldn't accommodate my team mates. I don't want to leave the people I care about behind, Grandpa. Surely, you'd understand that." I said. "And I'm not ready yet. I'm only seventeen. I think I should just stay on the ground right now. I think I should just stay a Friendly Neighborhood Alien Guy for now."

"You really had to reference Spider-Man, didn't you?" Albedo asked.

I looked at him, as I grinned.

"Shut up." I said.

"I can respect that." Grandpa Max replied.

"But, other than that, there is something else." I said.

"Oh? And what's that?" Grandpa Max asked.

"A few months after I got this alien watch, this Omnitrix, as you call it, I started hearing voices in my head." I said. "It started in the summer, when Gwen arrived back in my life. I began to hear thoughts in my head. They eventually pushed me to do something that I'm not fully proud of."

"And what's that?" Grandpa Max asked.

 _Do I really tell him that I kissed Gwen? And that we're together?_

I looked at Gwen. It's as if she were reading my thoughts. She was nodding.

 _No. You won't do it._

"That doesn't matter right now. Grandpa Max, is there anything we can do about this."

He began to scratch his chin.

"Well... I suppose we can analyze the Omnitrix. Shouldn't take more than a few hours." he said.

I let out a sigh of relief. I snuck a glance at Gwen. She was glaring at me with disapproval.

I took off the alien watch in it's camo form. I deactivated it's camo feature and it switched to it's true form. I handed it to Grandpa Max. As I did, he noticed the scar tissue on my wrist.

"Jesus Ben, what happened to your wrist?" he asked in a worried tone.

"I think the Forever Knights forced the watch off of my wrist while I was unconscious." I said.

"Fair enough." he said, as he turned around. "If you were unconscious, you get exactly determine what happened. Okay, let's get this thing analyzed. Sit tight, Ben. We'll get this done."

"Okay." I said, with partial worry in my voice.

 _A Couple Hours Later_

"Okay, all done." Grandpa Max said, before returning the alien watch to me.

I took it from him and was about to put it back on.

"Um, you might want to wait to put that back on. I have results that may not please." he said.

"Um, okay. What are the results?" I cautiously asked, as I sat the alien watch down on the table.

"So, the results were for the most part normal." he said. "Except, I detected a minor anomaly."

I stood up with concern.

"What anomaly?! What the fuck is going on with it?! With me?!" I exclaimed with worry.

"Calm down, Ben." Grandpa Max replied, as he put both of his hands out in an effort to calm me. "Um, I detected brain waves from the Omnitrix. It's thinking, Ben. It can think for itself."

"What? What do you -" I began to speak, but Grandpa Max interrupted.

"I don't know how to say it Ben, so I'll just say it." he said. "That Omnitrix that you wear on your wrist? It's a sentient being."

I could have sworn I felt my heart drop out of my body. I put my head on my head, as I began to get a headache and a cold sweat.

"You mean it's alive?!" I exclaimed.

I felt my eyes roll up into my head, before falling over and passing out.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's the chapter for this weekend!

* What did you guys think? So, Ben rejected Director Steel's offer, I hope that doesn't surprise anyone. Something is clearly wrong with Albedo. What do you think it is? But obviously, the main point: The Omnitrix is alive! Of course, my inspiration for this were the symbiotes from Marvel's Spider-Man comic books. Only difference between the two, the symbiotes could control their hosts, I believe, and the Omnitrix cannot control Ben. It can influence the things he does, it can advise him (hence him hearing it's "voice").

* (An example of it influencing him: Way back in chapter something something, I believe it was chapter nine or ten, csgt asked in a review, that he was curious whether or not the Omnitrix was pushing him to kiss Gwen the first time they kissed, and it did.) So, there you go. The Omnitrix is alive.

* Oh boy, I just realized we are so close to the epic chapter fifty! Favorite and/or follow if you're excited about another extra long chapter! Um, for any of my readers who read the first act of Ben 10: The Vilgaxian Order and to anyone who read the first two chapters of Ben 10: Cold Winter's Night, I'm going to be getting back to those chapters real soon.

* Anyway, I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.


	50. Chapter 49: Omniverse: Part 1

Chapter 49: Omniverse: Part One

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter forty nine!

* So, this is going to be a really long story arc. I'm not sure how long yet. I would say maybe ten parts in total. My inspiration for the title of this arc is obviously the fourth show that the original Ben 10 run had, Ben 10: Omniverse. Other than the title, the arc and the show have no relation. I've never even seen Omniverse, I only watched Ben 10, and then Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, so I have no idea what it's about. I meant to watch it, but never got the chance to. And so, the chance of me watching it has slipped away, I'll just leave it at that.

* There are going to be a lot of characters making their debut in this arc, mostly original characters. But in this chapter, a character from the original Ben 10 run will be joining the cast of characters. One last thing, this chapter will contain a time jump in the beginning! So, with that being said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Some Hours Later_

I laid in bed next to Gwen, as I pondered what had happened today. The alien watch, no, the Omnitrix was alive. It could think for itself, so I should call it by it's real name. I tossed and turned, as I tried to get to sleep with the thoughts in my head.

It was scary to think that the Omnitrix was sentient and I was sure that it had pushed me to kiss Gwen that night, the night of our first kiss. But if that were true, that left one question: Was our love even real?

I shuddered at the question. Whether or not the question was yes or no, I didn't want to know the answer. I sat up in worry and looked at Gwen. She was fast asleep next to me. She was so lucky. She had no idea of the worry-some thoughts that plagued my mind right now.

I let out a sigh, before lying back down and closing my eyes, finally making an attempt to get to sleep. All of that was made irrelevant, when I heard just one sound. It sounded like the howling sound that wolves made when they howled at the moon.

My eyes snapped open. I sat up in an instant and looked at Gwen, who was surprisingly, still asleep. I took a second to catch my breath.

 _Could I have just imagined the sound?_

That's when I heard the sound again. I threw back the covers with fear, Gwen still not waking up. It was a distinct howling sound. I got out of bed to look for the source. It sounded like it was coming from outside.

I walked out of the room and into the living room, where the front door was at. I opened the door and stepped outside. I waited for a few seconds and it happened. I heard the howling sound again. And I could now pin point the source.

It was coming from the roof. I cautiously moved to the other side of the house, where I could use the garbage cans to get up to the roof. Once I was up there, I slowly and cautiously made my way over to the side of the roof that the sound was coming from.

I stopped when I saw the figure at the other end of the roof. The full moon illuminated the figure, sitting on all fours as he howled at the moon. It was Albedo. I was confused and slightly terrified. I had no idea what I should do. Eventually, I decided to call out to Albedo.

"Albedo?" I cautiously called out.

He stopped howling at the moon. He turned to face me and I was concerned with what I saw. His eyes, which were usually glowing red, were not red anymore. I couldn't tell what color his eyes were now. His hair had grown down to his neck and his bangs were barely in his eyes.

His sideburns had grown long and wild. He had also grown a good amount of facial hair. As he saw me, he let out a growl. It was now that I noticed that Albedo now had claws. I began to back up in fear.

As soon as I did that, he let out a roar of anger as he lunged towards me. I tried to dodge his attack, but I wasn't quick enough. I felt a pain slash through my face, as he cut into my face with his claws.

I fell down backwards and rolled off of the roof. I impacted with the trash cans and then fell off of them. I let out quick breaths, as I began to lose consciousness.

 _Several Hours Later_

My eyes popped open. I was lying face down in the grass outside. I rolled over over onto my back and immediately cursed, pain surging through my face. I felt my face, but my fingers brought back no blood. It was still dark out, I noticed as I stood up.

Just then, the events of what had just transpired came back to me. I heard a howling sound coming from the roof. And when I went to go check it out, I found Albedo, in some kind of rage.

I quickly climbed back up to the roof, but Albedo wasn't there anymore. I was in awe.

 _Does this have anything to do with what went down at the Forever Knights building?_

I stepped down from the roof and went back to the front door, to find it open. I freaked out and immediately closed it behind me, then going to check on Gwen. When I got to our room, I was relieved to see her still sleeping.

I calmed down a little bit now. I went into the bathroom and turned on the light to survey my face. I was in shock and surprise at what I saw. There were three broad and very noticeable gashes going diagonally across my face. The top gash started just underneath my left eye and stopped just above my upper lip.

"What the hell?" I asked myself.

Whatever Albedo (and now me, at this point) was dealing with, I didn't want to have to worry about it right now. I shut off the light and walked back into the bedroom. I checked my phone and noticed it was about four in the morning.

 _So, I have maybe two and a half, three hours at the most to sleep. I'll take it._

I laid down under the covers with Gwen and pulled them up to my chest. I didn't want to reflect on what had happened. So, after a few minutes, I fell back to sleep.

 _A Few Hours Later_

"Hey. Wake up, sleepy head."

I woke up to Gwen's voice, her lips just barely touching my ear as she whispered to me. She was pressing herself up against my back, with her arms wrapped around my waist. Normally the guy does that, but I wasn't complaining.

"What time is it?" I whispered.

"Time for you to get up." Gwen whispered.

I sat up and tossed the covers back, after which I flung my legs over the side of the bed. I let out a sigh as I touched my face, which was still obviously scarred. Gwen got up and sat down next to me on the edge of the bed.

"Ben, are you-" she stopped speaking when she leaned in to look at me. "Ben, your face! What happened?!"

I looked at her with reassurance.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it." I said.

"Don't worry about it?! Ben, you have three gashes on your face!" she exclaimed. "What happened to you?! You didn't go to sleep like that!"

"Hmm. Must have done it in my sleep." I said, as I smirked.

She frowned at me.

"There's something that you're not telling me." she said. "And I want to know what it is."

"I'm fine Gwen. Promise." I said.

"You're lying. But whatever." Gwen said, before getting up and leaving the room, without saying another word to me.

Part of me wanted to tell her the truth. But another part of me wanted to deny what happened last night. I got up and stretched as I let out a yawn. I had to eat breakfast. And then I had to go chat with Albedo. There was something that I needed his help with.

 _One Hour Later_

I walked down the stairs towards the basement. I walked into the basement, and saw him there, sitting on the couch watching T.V. I cleared my throat.

"What is it?" he asked, without turning to face me.

"I need your help with something." I said.

"Yeah, what?" he asked, turning to face me.

For split second, I saw the hairy-faced Albedo that I saw howling at the moon last night. I wanted to interrogate him about it. But, I had no idea if he would know what I'm talking about.

"The lady who helped Gwen in our first encounter with Ghostfreak, I need to go see her." I said. "Something about some broken tech in the aftermath of the whole Forever Knights thing."

"Really? You sure you're not trying to hit on her?" he asked with a smirk. "You already have a girlfriend!"

I crossed my arms out of anger.

"Okay, fine! I'll go by myself!" I exclaimed, as I turned around to leave the basement. "I can't believe I even considered coming to you for help!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I'll help you out! And without my sarcastic bullshit!" he exclaimed, as I heard him quickly get up from the couch.

I turned back around to face him.

"That's all I ask from you, Albedo." I said. "Now let's go."

We walked upstairs, without me explaining to him what exactly we were doing. Gwen was in the living room, sitting on the couch and watching T.V. I stopped in front of her, and she looked up.

"Do you have something to say? Or do you just want to block the T.V.?" she asked.

"Albedo and I are heading out." I said. "We need to see Julie. We're picking up the pieces after the whole Forever Knights thing."

"Okay. I'll come with you." she said.

"No." I said, shaking my head. "You're still pale. Still weak. Please Gwen, just one more day. That's all I ask?"

Gwen looked at me, before sighing and leaning back into the couch.

"You are such a buzzkill, you know that?" she asked.

I smirked, and stepped up to the couch, getting on one knee in front of her. I gently put my hand on her cheek.

"And you are the most beautiful girl that the world has to offer." I said, as I kissed her.

We kissed for what seemed like a long time. So much so, that I forgot Albedo was in the room.

"Ahem." Albedo cleared his throat, trying to get our attention.

I ignored him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, almost shouting.

I broke the kiss and turned around to look at him, standing up as I saw his red eyes glowing with intensity.

"Don't forget that you two are together and I'm a fucking third wheel, okay?" he asked with anger. "Let's go, or you two get a fucking room! Come on!"

He walked out the front door, leaving it wide open. I looked at Gwen with shock and she returned my gaze.

"I'm a- gonna go see what's with him?" I said, as I moved towards the door. "We'll see you later. I love you, Gwen."

"I know." she simply said, as I walked outside, and closed the door behind me.

"Hey man, what the hell was that?" I asked.

He didn't say anything, but kept his back to me. He finally turned to look at me, regarding me with a hateful look.

"I hate that you two are together!" he exclaimed.

This surprised me.

"What?" I asked.

 _I thought that he was happy for us!_

"Okay, okay, okay! Let me rephrase that!" he exclaimed. "I hate that you have to fucking rub your relationship with her in! You have to kiss her that long while I'm in your presence!"

"Wha-" I cut myself off. "Why do you care? You'll get a girl of your own one day!"

"No, I won't! Ben, look at me!" he exclaimed, pointing at his face. "I'm a fucking abomination with silver hair and red eyes! I don't stand a chance with any one!"

I was surprised even more by his outburst.

"So let's get this done, so I can fucking spend some time by myself!" he shouted, as he walked towards my car.

I just watched him go in shock. I finally itched the back of my neck and followed him. I got in the car. I had everything with me. My costume was in a backpack in the back seat. I started the car and we started the drive down to the Forever Knights building.

 _Half An Hour Later_

Albedo and I both used our respective versions of the Omnitrix to get up to the rooftop opposite of the Forever Knights building. Once we got up there, I was relieved to see that my severed grapple hooks were still stuck in the air conditioning units.

I got on my knee so I could pry the hooks out of the steel that they were stuck in.

"That is what we came up here for?!" Albedo exclaimed angrily.

"Yes, that's what we came up here for." I said, as I pulled the hooks out. "We need these if I'm going to go talk to Julie about this stuff. I need a costume and functioning gear if I'm going to keep doing this thing!"

"What thing?!" Albedo exclaimed, as I leaped from the rooftop.

"This whole super hero thing, Albedo! I need a costume with functioning assets. And right now, my costume does not have functioning assets."

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Albedo asked.

"I have to speak with Julie. She told me that she knows a guy who could do work on my costume. Make gear for me." I said. "He already made the advanced wrist gauntlet for me."

After that I waited for the watch to time out so we could get back in my car.

 _Another Half Hour Later_

I knocked on the door to Julie's apartment and waited patiently. The door eventually opened and I saw Julie standing there.

"Hey." she said. "I've been hearing things. How are you?"

I shrugged.

"Good, all things considered." I said.

"Good, good." Julie said, before noticing Albedo. "Who is that?"

I turned to look at Albedo and then back at Julie.

"Oh don't mind him. He's my clone brother type person." I said.

"Fuck you." Albedo said to me.

I didn't look back at him.

"Anyway, I didn't come here to chat. I need other favor, as regrettable as it may be." I said, as I held up the busted grapple hooks. "These were busted."

Julie blinked as she looked at me.

"Alright." she said, as she reached for her jacket which hung by the door, followed by grabbing her car keys. "Time for you to meet the guy I told you about."

I was a bit confused, but moved out of the way so she could get out of the apartment and close the door.

"Come on, you two. We'll get there faster if we all take my car." she said. "Let's go."

Albedo and I exchanged glances as she walked off, before following her down the hall.

 _Forty Five Minutes Later_

"Why did you have to bring us all the way out to the Riverfront?" I asked, as I got out of the car and looked up at the warehouse that sat here.

"Because this is his primary base of operations, well, he calls it that." Julie said, as she stepped up to the building.

Albedo and I exchanged confused glances, and I looked back at Julie.

"Um, Jules, who exactly is this guy?" I asked.

"Jules." she mused the nickname I just gave her. "He's a friend. Some one like you. And I feel like you need all the help you can get, after hearing what you've been up to."

"So, who is this guy?" I asked again.

"A friend." Julie said, as she stepped up to the door. "Oh, I also forgot to mention, if you ever come up here guys, you have to knock like this, otherwise he won't answer."

She then proceeded to knock on the door in a "shave and a haircut, two bits" tune. We waited for a while. Eventually we heard the sound of multiple locks unlocking and the door opened. A guy stepped out. He looked taller than me. He had almost shoulder length blonde hair and had goggles on, covering his eyes.

He had coveralls on and working boots.

"Julie?" the guy asked, taking off his goggles, to reveal blue eyes. "What are you doing here? Who are these guys?"

Then the guy got a better look at me.

"Uh, why don't you guys come in?" he asked in a hushed tone, as he looked around him, as if he was checking to make sure he wasn't being watched.

He gestured us in and I was tempted to not follow, but Julie apparently really thought I should meet the guy. So, I followed him into the warehouse, as did Julie and Albedo. I was astonished once I got in. There was a big lab, with tons of pieces of technology in it.

The guy turned to me as he put the goggles back on. He took out a measuring tape and literally started to measure my height.

"Same height, same muscular structure..." the guy said, as he pulled my sleeve down. "Same posture."

Leaving me sort of offended, he backed up from me and looked at me, taking off his goggles again.

"I don't believe it. You're _the_ Alien Guy, aren't you?" he asked.

I looked at Julie, who smiled at me and nodded. I looked back at the guy.

"Um, yeah." I said.

"Pleased to meet you!" he said, as he took my hand and shook it. "I'm Cooper Daniels. I specialize in technology!"

"Um, nice to meet you." I said, as I returned the hand shake.

"Who's the guy behind you? He kinda looks like you." Cooper said.

I turned to Albedo, who gave me a look of anger before speaking.

"If you say "clone brother type person", I'll beat you the fuck down, Ben. I fucking swear." he said.

I turned back to look at Cooper.

"Not really friendly, is he?" he asked.

"Oh, he can be friendly. Just try not to piss him off." I said. "His name's Albedo."

"Pleased to meet you guys." he said. "What brought you guys here today?"

"I assume you were the one who made the advanced wrist gauntlets?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?" he asked.

"I kinda broke them." I said.

He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, let's see 'em." he said.

I brought around my backpack and unzipped it. I brought out the broken wrist gauntlets.

"Is that your costume?" he asked.

"Um, yeah." I said.

"May I see it? I'd love to advance it as well!" he said.

"Go ahead, Ben! Cooper can do things that you could never imagine!" Julie said.

I reluctantly handed him my backpack. He took out all of the bits and pieces of my costume and the broken gauntlet. He sat down in a chair and put on a pair of glasses that looked really advanced. After a few seconds, he spoke.

"Oh, you didn't break the gauntlet. You broke the wires." Cooper said. "I can fix this easily."

All of a sudden, I kinda liked this guy.

"Look, this may take a few days. So, do you mind coming back then?" he asked. "Julie can call you once I'm done, I'll call her to let her know. Or, you can come back in a few days. Your choice."

"Ben, let's go." Julie said, as she tapped my shoulder.

I turned my head back to Cooper, to see him with his back to us.

"Okay." I said, as I followed them towards the door.

 _Several Hours Later_

 _Close To Midnight_

We were up late that night. We were all tossing around ideas for a movie to watch, so we could all bond after having high tensions. Albedo and I generally suggested the same movies, as we pretty much had the same memories up until his "birth."

We went through every genre from romance to horror. And we went through every movie idea from The Mist to Friday the 13th. Eventually, we decided on what's to me, the best movie ever made: The Shawshank Redemption.

We were all sitting on the couch and it was getting towards the end. I thought I heard a noise, so I paused the movie and began to look around.

"Ben? What is it?" Gwen asked.

"Shh." I said. "I thought I heard something."

I looked around and eventually something began to happen. I now saw a hazy, black cloud about to form.

"What the fuck?" Albedo and I said in unison.

And then, something out of my nightmares happened. Cackling as he did, Ghostfreak appeared from the cloud. And I knew he was real. Gwen and Albedo looked just as shocked as I did.

"It wasn't over! I told you it wasn't over!" Ghostfreak exclaimed as he cackled. "I told you it would never be over!"

I backed up with fear and surprise.

"Ghostfreak?! How are you alive?" I exclaimed.

"Remember what I said about not being able to kill a ghost?" he asked. "You can't. And you can't kill me the same way twice!"

"It doesn't matter, Ghostfreak! There's a pair of big blue sewing scissors in the kitchen." I said. "That's what I'm going to use to kill you!"

Ghostfreak began to cackle.

"Oh, really? I'd honestly like to see you try!" he said, as a staff of some kind formed in his hand. "But you won't get the chance."

 _That looks like Hex's staff..._

He pointed the staff at me and it began to glow.

"You're about to know the true definition of suffering and just what it means to be helpless!" he exclaimed.

A glowing orb was fired from the staff and hit me in the chest, causing me to black out. The last thing I heard were Gwen's cries of despair.

 _Sometime Later_

 _Else Where..._

I began to come to, in a dark place. I was lying face down, and I eventually pushed myself up.

"Gwen? Albedo?" I asked, as I got up. "What'd Ghostfreak do to-"

I stopped when I saw where I was. I was in my house, my living room. But Gwen and Albedo were no where in sight. The living room was in shambles. One couch, a few tables and decaying wooden chairs. The roof to the house was also gone.

"-Me?" I finished my sentence as I realized I had no idea where I was.

I realized that the entire house laid in disarray. I eventually worked up the courage to step outside and go out to the street. When I did, I was even more shocked to see all of the houses as far as I could see were in ruin. I looked behind me, to see my house was the same.

"What the hell?" I muttered.

I walked down the street a little bit, and saw that every electrical pole had an intercom attached to it.

"What the fuck is going on here? Where am I?" I asked.

I walked further down the street and eventually saw the downtown city in the distance. Or, what was left of it. Most of the buildings laid in ruin. Floors had been completely destroyed. Some looked like they had floors simply hanging on by a thread, in like a toppled domino formation.

Some buildings looked intact, with maybe windows all shattered, it was hard to tell. But most of the buildings were all in disarray. Not suitable to walk around in. I was in shock and I was almost crying.

"Who? Who the fuck did this to my city?!" I whispered with anger.

I looked up at the sky. It was as if it was night. No sun. Only dark clouds for as far as the eye could see. It could have been day for all I know. Just then, I heard a siren begin to go off, similar to that if the case in which a nuclear bombing arised.

I whirled around in all directions, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. Eventually, I realized that it was coming from the intercoms. The siren stopped after a few more seconds, and I heard some feedback, before someone spoke.

"Good morning people of Bellwood!" an unfamiliar voice spoke over the intercom. "The date is April 11th, 2047."

 _2047?! Ghostfreak sent me that far into the future?! That's three decades that I've lost!_

"We have good news. A small group of rebels were killed early this morning!" the voice called. "And the remaining rebels are soon to be hunted down! That will be all! Have a great day, Bellwood! And remember, Vilgax is always watching!"

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter, as well as the first part of this story arc! So, what did you guys think?

* So, I want to cover stuff that happened in this chapter, but the chapter has gotten long, so I'll discuss only one thing. And that is the fact that Ghostfreak is back from the dead, and has sent Ben somewhere as punishment. That's all I will say.

* Also, updates for my other Ben 10 stories are coming in the near future. I'm sorry I've been inactive for a while, I was just really low on time and couldn't write. As such, I didn't have time to read new chapters. So to csgt, I'll read your most recent chapter here soon.

* I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and, bye.


	51. Chapter 50: Omniverse: Part 2

Chapter 50: Omniverse: Part Two

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to the big chapter fifty! I honestly can't believe that this story has gotten as far as it has. I know I've said thank you several times in the past, but I have to say it again. Six days ago marked this story's one year anniversary, without all of my readers and supporters, I probably wouldn't be writing this story today. So, thank you.

* So, if it isn't obvious enough, Ben has found himself trapped in a timeline that is not his own. You guys can say what you want to say about what's going on, I won't confirm exactly what's happening yet. I will say that a lot of stuff, starting this chapter, is going to happen.

* So, with that being said, let's get into the next part of the Omniverse story arc!

 _Ben_

 _Bellwood, 2047_

"Vilgax is always watching." the voice said, before the intercom shut off.

Once the signs of prolonged silence returned, I began to look at my surroundings, trying to figure out what was going on. The entire street I was on was utterly destroyed. And there were no signs of life whatsoever.

Not seeing any other choice, I began to walk down the street, towards the ruins of the Downtown area. As I walked, I picked up on the fact that I had my cell phone on me. I pulled it out, deciding to attempt to call Gwen and see where she was in all of this.

As soon as I dialed her number, the call disconnected. I tried again and again, but got the same results. This made me worried. Wherever I was, Gwen was nowhere to be found. And that scared me.

I didn't know what to make of my surroundings. It seemed like I was in Bellwood, but it also seemed like I wasn't in Bellwood. Do you understand what that means? Have you ever gotten a feeling like that?

Anyway, I continued walking down the street. All of a sudden, I ran into a group of people that would make someone question what they were seeing. I was looking at what looked like people from the Knights of the Templar. Yes, in modern day.

There were five of them. They all wore the same silver armor with red and black alternating fabric covering their chests. On each of their chests, was a logo. An alien face, with several elongated appendages, like tentacles, growing from the chin. The symbols almost looked like a squid.

"Hey, it's one of them!" one of the "knights" said. "We haven't seen another one of them for a week or two now!"

"Under the authority of the Order of Emperor Vilgax, we are taking you in for questioning on possible threats to the Emperor." Another one of them said, looking to be the main man.

"Hey look, I just got here and I have no idea what's going on!" I exclaimed. "Cut me some slack, I'm not going with you!"

The lead guy eyed me with hatred for a few seconds, before pulling what looked to be like an advanced firearm out.

"Attack! He's a threat to our Emperor!" he said, as his boys pulled weapons as well.

They began to fire at me and I dodged their shots, whilst activating the Omnitrix.

 _If I hadn't mentioned it yet, I'll say it now. I'm never calling it the "alien watch" again. It's called the Omnitrix. And I might as well call it by it's true name._

I transformed into Heatblast.

"Okay, you punks want some? Bring it on!" I exclaimed, as I shot fire balls at them.

One of them fell down from one of the blasts, and didn't get back up. I grabbed two of them by the head, and fried their helmets.

"I've had a very long day. I just learned that my oldest enemy is back from the dead and I've been teleported into - well, whatever this is!" I exclaimed, as I brought their heads together. "So, I'll say it like this: I don't have the fucking patience for this!"

I threw the two knights into the last two knights, knocking them down for good. I let out a sigh of relief, and sat down, finally being able to think for a second or two.

 _Heads up..._

I sprang up in an instant, familiar with the voice in my head. It was the Omnitrix, trying to communicate with me, I knew it was!. I looked around, but saw no one around. And then I heard the voice. _My_ voice.

"Congratulations, you sludge head!" the voice said. "You just alerted the Order to our presence in this area! I'm going to be really angry if you get us all killed!"

I looked around in all directions, until I saw the person who was speaking. And you may be surprised with what I saw. I saw myself! He stood at the other side of the street, wearing black jeans, black shoes, a black jacket, well, black everything!

It was as if this guy were a clone of me, kind of like Albedo. Unlike Albedo and I, he had long, unkept black hair, going down to his neck. He had green eyes as well. I was in awe at what I was looking at. Was this seriously me that I was talking to, as weird as it sounds?

Before he could say anything else, I heard a shout of distress. I turned to see one last knight running away from the area, as he tossed some kind canister behind him. The canister exploded, and I was surprised to see that I was reverted back to my human form.

"Oh, damn it!" the black haired version of me said. "He threw an EMP grenade, both of our Omnitrixes were forced into standby!"

 _I think I'm going to call this guy "Emo Ben"._

"Wait, they have those?" I asked.

"Yes, you idiot!" Emo Ben said in a hushed tone.

"Hey, you don't have to berate me! I can understand!" I said.

"Yes, I do have to berate you, you idiot! You got us found out in this area!" Emo Ben said. "The Emperor's Order will be here any minute to flush us out! And we have to get out of here and back to base!"

He turned around quickly and began to run down the street. As he ran, I noticed a device on his right wrist. It was an Omnitrix, with a black and grey color scheme. He stopped in his tracks, and turned around.

"Well? Are you coming or not?!" he called to me.

I was confused. I thought he was talking about his other teammates, not me. But apparently he was talking about me when he said that we have to get back to base. Seeing no choice, I ran to catch up with him.

Eventually catching up to him, we ran alongside one another down the street. Eventually, we came to another destroyed house. I stood there confused, as he grabbing a few branches and moved them, revealing a hatch of some kind. He opened the hatch and ushered me down.

I didn't question him. I moved down the ladder and he did his best to place the branches against the hatch cover, so when he put it down, they would conceal it again. It took only a few seconds for me to touch the floor of the tunnel, it seemed I was in.

"What is this place?" I called out, as he closed the hatch and began to descend the ladder.

"It's a secret passage to and from the rebel base." Emo Ben replied angrily. "Now, stop asking questions, be quiet and try to keep up!"

He activated a flashlight and handed me one.

"Here, have my spare flashlight." he said.

I took it and activated it.

"You have a spare flashlight?" I asked.

"Yeah, and now I have to give it up." he said, as he slowly walked forward. "It's what I get for helping your sorry ass."

 _Albedo and Emo Ben would get along great!_

"Remind me to let you meet Albedo. You two would get along great!" I said, as we walked side by side.

"You have an Albedo in your universe?" Emo Ben asked.

"Universe? What do you mean?" I asked. "Are there more than one of you? Please tell me you're the only copy of me!"

"Hush up! And no, I'm not the only one!" Emo Ben said in a hushed tone. "And we're not copies of you! There's a dozen of us in total, maybe more, including our leader."

"Who's your leader?" I asked.

"An old guy." Emo Ben replied. "We call him "Old Man Ben"."

"Why do you call him that?" I asked.

"You'll have to wait and see." Emo Ben said, as we continued to walk. "No more talking. We have to be quiet. For all we know the Emperor's Order could be above us searching for us and we can't risk being caught. Don't say another word."

He looked at me and I nodded my understanding. We continued to walk and I didn't say another word.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

Emo Ben brought us to another hatch after a good ten minutes of walking.

"Okay, this is it!" he said, as he climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch.

He climbed out and stuck out his hand for me to grab. I gripped his hand and he pulled me up quickly. He quickly closed the hatch, as I looked around our area. We were in a garden of some kind. However, there weren't a lot of plants that were still alive here.

There was a bunker of some kind up ahead in front of us. It might have been two stories high, no higher than that. I couldn't tell how big it actually was from where I was at. There were two types of walls here. Brick walls, which were the most prominent in this garden.

And then, there were metal plates, that were held into the ground and stood with the help of support beams. Walls around the bunker. Atop the metal plates, were coils of barbed wire. Don't even ask me how they got those up there. I noticed something on the brick walls.

I walked up to them and began to analyze what I was seeing. There were names all over the wall. It seemed to be paying respects to the people's names on this wall. I didn't recognize any of the names I had read so far.

"What are you- oh, The Wall of the Lost." Emo Ben said, as he walked up to me. "I highly recommend looking at all of the names, but now is not the time. Come on, we have to get inside."

We lightly jogged over to the door to the bunker. He pulled out a key-card and put into a slot. The slot glowed green after a few seconds, and the door opened. He pulled the key-card back and slipped it into his pocket.

"When we get the chance, we'll get you one of these." he said as he looked at me, before jogging into the bunker.

Not wanting to be left behind, I jogged behind him, trying to catch up. We eventually came to a stairwell and went down two flights of stairs. We went through a door and jogged down a hallway.

Eventually, we went through another door and into a room which had several cots. Each cot had a duffel bag or footlocker in at it's foot.

"Whoa, what's this room?" I asked him.

"It's our Barracks, where we sleep." Emo Ben said. "If you really are one of us, we'll pick out a cot for you to use. But right now, we must proceed to the Command Center."

So with that, I followed him out of the room, to another stairwell, down another flight of stairs, and finally, down a long hallway. As we neared a set of double doors at the end of a dimly lit hallway, he looked at me and put his finger over his mouth. I could hear voices coming from the other side of the door.

And that's when it hit me. Every voice I heard on the other side of the door, sounded like my voice.

"Maybe we go this way?" one of the voices said.

"No, we can't go that way! Sector Five has been closed off, thanks to the new guy's idiotic choices." another voice said.

"Idiotic choices yes, but I'm sure he has a reason behind his choices." another voice said.

This voice sounded similar to Grandpa Max's voice, so I got excited for a second. That's when I realized that it may not be Grandpa Max.

"Let's go." Emo Ben whispered to me, before opening the door.

He walked in, and I slowly followed.

"Hey fellas, I'm back! And look who I have with me!" Emo Ben said, as he stopped a few feet away from the rest of the Bens. That's right. You heard correctly.

There was an older man with the younger version of me. He had medium length brown hair and an unkept brown beard. He eyed me with annoyance. The other "me", looked really young. He looked like he was age ten years old. And I knew the kid was me. We had the same features, minus the green eyes, but he did have short brown hair. His posture was even strikingly similar of that of how I held myself at that age.

And the other guy was Kevin, in his mutated form! But something was wrong. He was overly skinny in that form, he wasn't muscular.

 _Oh, boy. What have I gotten myself into?_

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter! I hope ya'll enjoyed!

* So, do any of you get the idea, why this arc is called "Omniverse" yet? Who do you think of the different versions of Ben that you are seeing? What do you think is going on in this time period that Ben has been teleported into?

* One of the new original characters, "Emo Ben", mentioned that their leader was a guy called "Old Man Ben". Who do you think Old Man Ben is? What do you think has happened to Bellwood? Because it certainly does not seem normal!

* Anyway, that's all I have. I'm going to go, so have a great day and, bye.


	52. Chapter 51: Omniverse: Part 3

Chapter 51: Omniverse: Part Three

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter fifty one, and to Omniverse Part Three!

* In this chapter, we'll get more looks at the other versions of Ben that we saw at the end of the last chapter, and we'll get closer to finding out what the heck is going on in this weird timeline that Ben is stuck in!

* So, I'm not giving anything else up in regards to what happens in this chapter, so on with it!

 _Ben_

 _Bellwood, 2047_

I had no idea what was going on. Emo Ben had brought me to what he called the Rebel Base and I was looking at a ten year old version of myself, I assumed so, anyway, a mutated Kevin, who was way too skinny to be Kevin and an older man.

I was assuming that the older man was the man Emo Ben referred to as "Old Man Ben", but I didn't have a clue. For all I knew, this could just be some random ass guy who was leading them.

Now, I've seen some things. I've seen Gwen almost die, (thanks Ghostfreak), I've seen a destroyed city, (thanks Ghostfreak, again) I've see a silver haired, red eyed clone of my self and as of recently, I saw a Were-Albedo. So, right now I could say that I had no fucking idea what I was seeing right now.

"Um, would someone please tell me what's going on here?" I asked.

"What's going on is you got an entire Sector on lock down." Kevin exclaimed. "Good job, you idiot!"

It wasn't Kevin. The voice yet again, belonged to me. It was another Ben. So that explained why he was so skinny. The older man looked at him.

"Ben 11, please. Our new arrival knows nothing of past events that have caused our current situation." he said to him, before turning back to look at me. "I see you have an Omnitrix. So, that makes you one of us, yes?"

I looked at the three of them. All of them had an Omnitrix on their wrist. The ten year old version of myself and the older man had the same make and model as I did, the only difference was that the older man's Omnitrix was bigger than mine, obviously to fit his big wrist.

"Were you going to answer him when he's talking to you, or you were going to play the quiet game?" the Ben that he referred to as "Ben 11" asked.

I temporarily snapped out of my confusion.

"Um, what? Sorry, sorry. Um, can I speak to the person in charge here?" I asked.

"That would be me." the older man asked.

"So, would that make you Old Man Ben?" I asked.

"That is also correct." he said.

"Okay, quick question." I said. "What in the hell is going on here?!"

"Please, no cursing around the kid." Old Man Ben replied. "And you need to calm down. I'm guessing where you're from you're used to being the man in the spotlight. Is that correct?"

 _I mean, not necessarily, but- Wait, what?_

"What?" I asked in a confused voice. "Who are you people?"

"We're the Rebel Alliance, genius." Ben 11 said.

"Yeah, I got that part." I said. "But why are all of you copies of me?"

"Do you actually think that we're copies of you?" the ten year old version of me said. "That's brilliant."

"They're not copies of you. And neither am I." Old Man Ben replied, as he looked at me with the same annoyed expression. "We're all the same. There are no copies. We're all Ben."

"What the- What does that even mean?" I asked.

Old Man Ben opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of something that sounded like an electric guitar being played. He looked up at the ceiling and cursed, breaking his own rule.

"Don't tell me that's Punk Rocker!" Emo Ben exclaimed.

"I think it is." Old Man Ben replied, as he rushed out of the room, followed by the other three.

 _Punk Rocker? What kind of name is that?_

Not wanting to be left alone, I decided my best course of action would be to follow them. We ran up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. The sound of an electric guitar being played was getting louder.

Old Man Ben wasted no time in kicking the door to the room open. We all filed inside, and I got a look at another Ben. This one wearing clothes that a guy in a heavy metal band would wear. His hair was also spiked.

"Come on dude! You're wasting energy that we don't have, man!" Old Man Ben exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you!" the version of me said, as he turned the volume on the speakers up.

 _Remind me to refer to this guy as Punk Rock Ben from now on._

Old Man Ben angrily stomped over to the wall and unplugged the speakers. Punk Rock Ben continued playing his guitar, but not for long. Old Man Ben took the electric guitar from his hands and then walked over to the wall, where he began smashing it against the wall, until there was nothing left but the handle.

"What the hell, man?!" Punk Rock Ben exclaimed.

Old Man Ben returned to Punk Rock Ben and put the remaining handle of his guitar into his hand.

"That's for wasting energy, you degenerate." he said in an angered voice.

"What can I say, man? I love rock and roll!" Punk Rock Ben replied.

"And I have no problem with that! But do it on your own time! Don't waste my time and our limited supply of energy!" Old Man Ben said, his face getting red. "And stop making noise! We can't afford to be found!"

Old Man Ben turned around and began to walk away.

"Yeah, whatever man. You're just still salty over her death." Punk Rock Ben exclaimed.

Old Man Ben stopped in his tracks.

"How long has it been man, three decades? I think it's time to get over i-" Punk Rock Ben continued talking, but got interrupted.

As he was talking, Old Man Ben turned around. He slowly walked back over to Punk Rock Ben and slugged him in the jaw, throwing him off of his feet. Everyone of the Bens let out a gasp of surprise and shock, while I merely just blinked. Old Man Ben picked up him back up and shoved him against the wall.

"The hell did you say?! What the hell did you say?!" he exclaimed with anger.

"Whoa, Old Man Ben, chill! Chill!" Emo Ben exclaimed with worry, as he approached him and put his hands on his back.

Old Man Ben looked back at us, as he let out a grunt of anger. I noticed he had glowing green eyes. It seemed like all of these versions of myself had green eyes, while I had brown eyes, which I found weird. Eventually the glow faded and Old Man Ben looked back at us, with a sorry look in his eyes.

He eventually looked back at Punk Rock Ben, let out a grunt and threw him back to the ground.

"That human piece of trash is on dish duty tonight." Old Man Ben said.

He began to walk away. All of the other versions of me tended to Punk Rock Ben. I saw my chance to slip out, so I did. As Old Man Ben left the room, so did I.

I waited until we were a ways away from the room and approached him.

"Old Man Ben!" I exclaimed. "Wait up!"

He stopped walking and turned to face me.

"Don't you dare ask about her or anything that just went down in there!" he said, through gritted teeth.

"No, Sir. I just want to know what the fuck is going on here." I said. "The other Bens won't tell me, so you must be able to tell me. All I'm asking for is a few minutes of your time. Just tell me what's going on here, and I'll be out of your hair."

"You won't be out of my hair, but I'll give you a few minutes." he said. "What do you want to know?"

"What is this place? Not this bunker, but where in the hell am I?" I asked.

"Where do I even begin to answer that question? Well, let's see... You're in an alternate dimension which is not your own." he said.

"Not my own? But it's thirty years into my future and everything looks the same, and-" I began to ramble, but he interrupted me.

"Just because it's the future and everything looks the same doesn't mean that this is your native timeline." he said. "I would call this a fractured dimension. Just a possible future in a sea of possible futures for you."

"So, that means that the other Bens aren't native to this dimension, right?" I asked, still kind of confused.

"Now you're getting it." Old Man Ben said. "The other versions of us were abducted against their will from their respective dimensions and were teleported here, to this dimension. Same as you."

"Who abducted them?" I asked with curiosity.

"Who do you think? Our oldest adversary. It was Ghostfreak." he said.

"Why would he abduct all of us and teleport us here?" I asked.

Old Man Ben shrugged.

"Who knows? It's probably one of his sadistic games." he said. "My take is that he wants to see all of us die trying to save this dimension and get back to our respective dimensions."

"The ultimate revenge. He hates me so much that he collected all of the different versions of me from across all time and space, just to see them all eventually perish trying to win this war." I said.

Old Man Ben nodded, telling me I was getting the bigger picture now.

"Wow. Sounds a lot like the Spider-Verse crossover that Marvel Comics did a couple years ago." I said.

"Mmm. I remember reading that comic when I was in my youth." Old Man Ben said.

"Your youth? How old are you anyway?" I asked.

"Forty-Seven. I am forty-seven." he said.

"So, does that mean this is your dimension, your timeline?" I asked.

He nodded. Just then, Emo Ben came running.

"Old Man Ben, Gamma has been compromised!" he said.

"Whoa, whoa. Gamma? What's Gamma?" I asked.

"Gamma is one of our operatives. She's one of us." Old Man Ben explained. "Some one has to go back her up and fetch her. Delta, you go get her. Take our new arrival with you."

"Who's Delta?" I asked.

"That's me." Emo Ben said. "We use call signs on missions. It's easier calling one Alpha, Delta or Gamma, than it is calling everyone Ben and confusing one another."

"Okay, I'll go." I said. "Where's the location?"

"Let's get to the Command Center." Old Man Ben replied.

A good minute or two later, we were back in the Command Center. Old Man Ben worked at the console and eventually spoke.

"She's in Sector Twelve, in the ruins of the city. You'll have to take Tunnel Nine to get out there quickly." he said.

"Okay, come on, Epsilon!" Emo Ben said to me, as he took off running.

I was confused. They just can't call me by name?

"Coming!" I said, as I ran to catch up with him.

We ran for a good five minutes, through several hallways, several more rooms that I didn't get the time to look at and eventually, we ran through what I definitely knew had to be the Mess Hall.

"Over here." Emo Ben said, as he ran over to shelf on wheels, that had several canned foods, condiments, boxes of bagged foods and other things I didn't have the time to look at.

He grabbed the shelf and pulled it bag, revealing a hole in the wall that I hadn't seen before.

"Come on, we have to move, Epsilon." Emo Ben said, as he gestured for me to go first.

I ran in and Emo Ben followed, as he pulled the shelf back, blocking the hole again.

"Come on, let's go!" he said, as he turned on his flashlight.

We began running alongside each other. Even though I still didn't really know what was going on, we ran once more unto the breach.

 _Five Minutes Later_

We eventually came to a hatch, and once it opened, I got my first look into the ruins of the city. We climbed out, and up onto the streets.

"Come on Epsilon, we have to find Gamma." he whispered, as we moved slowly through the city, listening for any hints as to where to go.

"Tell me something." I whispered, looking at him as we continued to walk. "What's your call sign? I can't call you Emo Ben, so what do I call you?"

"My callsign is Delta." he said, as he snorted. "Don't ever call me Emo Ben."

We continued walking, until we began to hear the sounds. The sounds of something that resembled blaster fire from the Star Wars movies.

"Over there, Epsilon!" he said, as we began to run.

We ran towards the sounds and eventually ran around the corner of a building, to be blocked off by the ruins of cars and trucks. We were blocked off from the area.

"We'll have to cut through the building!" Emo Ben said.

I followed him into the ruined building, through several rooms and eventually out of the building, on the other side of the barricade. We saw more of the "knights" of the Emperor's Order, armed with laser firearms.

I noticed the asset and immediately noticed something. She had fiery red hair.

 _Wait..._

A laser blast whizzed past my face, waking me from my brief thoughts.

"Ooo!" I let out a gasp of relief, shock and fear all at the same time.

I noticed the asset begin to run away from the conflict.

 _If that's who I think it is, than why is she here? She's not a Ben! What's the reason for her being in this "dimension", as Old Man Ben called it?_

"Epsilon! I'll handle our enemies! You must catch up to Gamma!" Emo Ben exclaimed. "She has vital information that will contribute to our side of the fight!"

I wasn't sure who exactly we were fighting, but I didn't have time to question it.

"Okay!" I said, as I leaped over my cover and ran in the direction that the asset went.

I ran past all of the knights and dodged all of their fire. I didn't want to use the Omnitrix, under the current risk that one of the knights had one of those EMP grenades. As I turned the corner, I noticed that an entire three or four floors of the building had toppled, allowing me to get on top and run up the debris.

I could see Gamma up ahead. I kept on her tail and eventually, she stopped. She began panting from exhaustion. I slowly approached her, giving her some space. Eventually as I was approaching her, my foot hit a rock.

The rock flew and hit her in her lower leg. She let out a gasp of shock and turned around. I was right. It was her. Her beautiful face, her amazing fiery red hair put up in a ponytail, her emerald eyes, her fair tan, it was all there. It was Gwen.

"Ben?!" she exclaimed, sounding shocked.

I didn't know why she was so shocked. I was here, right in front of her.

"Oh, Gwen. I found you." I said, as I slowly approached her.

I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't realize that, well, my mind didn't process one simple what if.

I gently put my hand on her cheek and put my lips on hers. I pulled her closer into the kiss. There was one thing I noticed though. She didn't kiss me back at all. So, being curious, I pulled away and looked at her.

"Gwen?" I asked.

She almost looked scared of me.

"Why did you just kiss me?" she asked with fear.

That's when I noticed it. On her wrist, was the Omnitrix. The same make and model as mine. I should have known. This wasn't my Gwen. This was a Gwen from a different dimension.

 _Author's Note:_

* Well, how's that for a cliffhanger? I hope all you guys enjoyed!

* What do you guys think of all the different versions of Ben that we've seen? There are still a few versions of Ben that haven't been seen yet. And I'll do this: If you guys want to submit an idea in a review for a version of Ben that you'd like to see used in this story arc, I'll take one, maybe two and I'll credit you for the idea. Go ahead! I'll consider any idea!

* I wanted to quickly "debunk" something, which is csgt asked if the Old Man Ben character is an aged Albedo. No, as we saw and learned in this chapter, he is not. Although, the Albedo from the "Old Man Ben Dimension" will appear in the story in the next chapter or two.

* Speaking of Albedo, do you want Ben's (the version of Ben that this entire story follows) Albedo to appear in the story arc, having been also abducted by Ghostfreak, let me know and I'll make it so.

* What did everyone think of the fact that all of the different versions of Ben were not brought into this dimension to fight Vilgax, but were all abducted by Ghostfreak to just slowly die off in this dimension?

* And the huge point that all of you are probably waiting for me to address: Gwen. At the end there, Ben thought he had found her. But, it seems that he didn't find _his_ Gwen, but a Gwen from a different dimension. And what do you think of the fact that she has her own Omnitrix? Any theories on how she got one?

* That's all I have to ask or discuss. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.


	53. Chapter 52: Omniverse: Part 4

Chapter 52: Omniverse: Part Four

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter fifty two, as well as part four of Omniverse!

* So, in the last chapter Ben kissed who he thought was his dimension's Gwen. But as we can see, it is clearly not his Gwen. And that's exactly where we're going to pick up, right where we left off!

* One last thing before we start this chapter: Be prepared for a huge revelation for both the Old Man Ben and Gwen 10 characters later on in this arc. Just so you know, Gwen 10 is the name I'll use when referring to the Gwen that Ben kissed at the end of the last part.

* That's about it. On with the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Downtown Bellwood Ruins, 2047_

She had an Omnitrix. That explained why she was here in this dimension. I guess that dimension's Ben wasn't available.

"Hello? I asked you a question!" she said. "Why did you kiss me?"

 _How was I supposed to answer?_

I thought about it for a minute. I had to eventually speak. And so I did.

"Okay, look. Sorry in advance for kissing you." I said. "I'm going to explain why I kissed you. And I'm going to sound like I'm crazy."

"I've seen some pretty crazy stuff in the last few days." she said, putting her hands on her hips. "But go ahead."

"Before I ask, I assume that you are not native to this dimension?" I asked.

"That's correct." she said, with her hands still on her hips.

I don't know why, but I liked this version of Gwen. She seemed tougher than the Gwen I knew. She also kind of seemed sassy. Or was I thinking of another word?

"Well, here's the thing. In the dimension that I come from, that dimension's version of you and I are dating." I said. "I just kissed you, well, because you look so much like the Gwen from my dimension."

"Oh, wow. I am experiencing some major Déjà vu right now." she said, as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Why's that?" I asked with curiosity.

"Because the Ben from my dimension tried to pull that with me. He tried to pull a lot of stuff with me." she said. "He hasn't pulled stuff with me in a few months. He can't. He's - You know what? Forget it."

"He's what?" I asked.

"None of your business." she said in a solemn tone.

I noticed that her eyes seemed wet as she said that. She almost looked like she wanted to cry.

"Are you okay, Gwen? You're eyes are watering." I said.

"I'm fine!" she exclaimed in an annoyed tone.

"Look, if there's something that I should know about your dimension's version of me, then I have a right to know!" I said.

"Mind your own damn business!" she exclaimed, her face turning a bit red. "Quit prying for information! We're done here!"

She pushed past me and walked back the way she had came. I turned around to face her as she walked down the slope of debris. I followed, my business with her not being finished.

"Whoa Gwen, wait up!" I said, as I tried to catch up with her.

"Did I stutter? I said we're done talking!" she exclaimed.

"Do you actually think I tracked you down just to kiss you?" I asked. "Emo Ben sent me ahead to collect you!"

She looked at me as she smirked, as if her anger was gone.

"Emo Ben?" she asked as she chuckled. "Is that really what you call Delta? Remind me to write that down! That's good!"

I grinned, thankful that someone felt the same way about it.

"Thanks. Glad to see someone agrees." I said. "But, I was told that you had information that would be vital to our side of this fight."

"Oh, I do. But I can't disclose that information until we're back at base." she said.

"Well, let's go collect Delta and get back to Tunnel Nine." I said. "No need to waste time here."

 _Forty Five Minutes Later_

 _The Rebel Base_

We were all back. Emo Ben, Gwen 10 and I. I was going to call her Gwen 10 because, A: It'll help me remember that this is not the Gwen I know. And B: the Omnitrix originally came with ten aliens for me. And I had a hunch that it was the same for her.

We were all in the Command Center, gathered around the main console. Old Man Ben was going over the charts, documents and general things that Gwen 10 had found. Apparently she had been out for a day or so and had infiltrated Vilgax's Tower in the city, wherever that was.

She was on her way back to base when the Emperor's Order found out that she had gotten in undetected and what she had taken. They had chased her all over the city and may have been captured or killed, if it weren't for Emo Ben and I. We lost them after zig-zagging through some ruined buildings.

It almost seemed too easy to get away. Among the documents that she recovered were blueprints of Vilgax's Tower. The Tower was an impressive twenty stories high. But that's not the main point that we got from the blueprints. The blueprints detailed weak spots in the Tower's structure, which could be easily used to our advantage.

"You did good, Gwen." Old Man Ben said, as he looked up from the console.

"Thanks, Old Man Ben." she replied.

"So, what now?" Ben 11 asked. "Are we going to bomb the hell out of them and that tower?"

"Language! Not in front of the kid!" Old Man Ben exclaimed, referring to the ten year old me. "And no, we're not. At least not yet. Cooper will have to craft the charges and that will take at least a day's time."

"What do we do until the charges are ready, then?" Emo Ben asked.

"Just wait around. Use the shooting range and practice your aim with the Laser Rifles." Old Man Ben said. "But most importantly, gear up. We're going to finish this fight."

I expected for all the different versions of me to cheer, but they didn't. That's when I remembered that Old Man Ben had a rule on noise.

"Is that clear? Any questions?" Old Man Ben asked.

No one said anything.

"Alright. Everyone is dismissed." he said, as he turned back to the console.

I had no idea what to do with myself right now. I looked around the room and spotted a version of myself that I had never seen before. He had short, neatly combed brown hair and green eyes, just like all of the others.

He was wearing a green jacket, with a small black number ten on the left side, with a black stripe running down that side. Underneath the jacket, he wore a black T-shirt. And he also wore blue jeans and tennis shoes. He was sitting by a set of computers, like bulky computers that were all connected, like you saw in a place like the Pentagon.

He had his feet up on top of one the monitor. I decided to walk over to him and see what was up with him. As I walked over to him, he looked up at me.

"Hey." we both said in unison, which caused us both to chuckle.

After we were done laughing, I decided to ask about his roots.

"What, uh, dimension are you from?" I asked.

He looked around the room, as if he were looking for one of us.

"Ah," he said, as he pointed. "do you see the ten year old Ben over there?"

I looked over at that Ben, who was busy annoying Gwen 10.

"Yeah." I said, as I turned back to him.

"We're from the same dimension." he said.

"How is that possible?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Ghostfreak plucked us both from our respective timelines, if that makes sense." he said. "I'm the fifteen year old version of him, likewise he is the ten year old version of me."

As he was explaining that to me, Gwen 10 walked up to us, probably trying to get away from Mini-Ben. Yes, that's totally what I was going to call him.

"Hey, Dead Man Walking." she said, upon reaching us.

"Hey, Gwen." the Ben I was talking to replied.

"Dead Man Walking? Ben, what does that mean?" I asked him.

"I don't know. Ask Gwen." he replied.

"It's none of your business, so don't ask!" Gwen 10 replied angrily, as she closer to the teenage version of me.

She began to whisper something to him. After she was done whispering to him, he looked back at me with disgusted look, got up rather quickly and stormed away from us. I looked at Gwen 10 funny.

"What'd you say to him?" I asked.

"I told him that in your dimension you and Gwen are dating." she said, as she smirked.

"What?! Why'd you do that?!" I exclaimed.

"Because I can." she said, as she walked away from me.

I glared at her as she walked away. There was something off about Gwen 10. I felt like she was hiding something from me. And whatever it was, I wanted to know. And I didn't admire her anymore. She was coming off as more rude than admirable at the moment.

 _Later_

 _Nightfall, around 9:00 P.M._

Right now, I was in the Barracks. It looked like I wasn't leaving this dimension anytime soon, so I was given a cot in the Barracks. There was an empty cot in between Emo Ben's cot and Fifteen Year Old Ben's cot. That's the cot I was given.

I was just sitting there, minding my own business, trying to get over the fact that I wasn't going home anytime soon. And then she interrupted my thoughts. I felt someone smack my cheek. I bolted upright and looked at the person who had smacked me. It was Gwen 10.

"Ow! What was that for?!" I said, as looked at her with annoyance.

"I said your name three times, idiot! Why don't you answer me?" she asked.

"Sorry, I was thinking. I'm j-" I tried explaining myself, but she interrupted me.

"You know what? I don't want to hear it. Look, I've just been informed that after my last mission, I've been assigned a partner. And it's you." she said. "So, I'm going to make this very easy for you. One, don't test my patience. Two, don't make me angry. And most importantly, stay out of my way!"

"I don't want to be your partner! You're very rude!" I protested.

"What did I just say about testing my patience?" she said through gritted teeth. "Now, I want to get some target practice in. Let's go!"

"I'm just going to stay here and get some rest. I need to think some things over." I said, as I rolled over, facing away from her.

All of a sudden, I felt my ankle being grabbed. Then, I was pulled off of my cot and onto the floor, landing on my back. Gwen 10 lifted me up with one hand and brought us nose to nose.

"I wasn't asking." she said through gritted teeth. "Now let's go!"

She dropped me back where I was. After getting my bearings straight, I realized I pretty much had no choice. So I followed her down to the shooting range. It took about five minutes to get there. My take was that the bunker looked big, but it actually was pretty small.

Once we got there, she insisted that I get some target practice too. Even though I said I didn't want to shoot, she forced a Laser Rifle into my hand and put me at firing station three, right next to station two, where she was shooting targets.

I had to admit that after a while, it was actually kind of fun! I almost forgot where I was and that I couldn't go back home. I was content with what I was doing. That is, until those thoughts plagued my mind again.

 _What did Dead Man Walking mean? Why wouldn't she tell me about her universe's version of me? Did that universe's Ben do something so bad, that she doesn't like talking about him?_

I had to ask, and so I did.

"Hey, while I'm here, I want to ask you something." I said.

"What?" she asked in an irritated tone, as she changed the battery on her Laser Rifle.

"What does Dead Man Walking mean?" I asked.

"None of your business." she said, still in an irritated tone. "Now, get back to practicing."

"Then what about your universe's Ben? Why don't you like talking about him?" I asked, disregarding her request.

"I said it's none of your business!" she shouted with anger. "Now stop prying for information and do what you're told!"

I dropped my Rifle in frustration.

"That's it! I tried, I really did! But you're just so rude and such a cold person!" I exclaimed, as I stared at her with anger. "I'm going to Old Man Ben and requesting that I get a partner change!"

"Good! I never wanted a partner in the first place!" Gwen 10 shouted as I walked away from her. "I work alone!"

 _9:30 P.M._

"And you want a partner change because?" Old Man Ben asked, fishing for an answer.

"Gwen 10 is a rude and cold person." I said. "I can't work with her, Sir. And that's why I request a partner change."

Old Man Ben looked at me strangely. Finally, he looked down at his papers and began to write something down.

"Well, just because she's rude and a cold person doesn't mean that I'm going to give you a partner change." he said, as he wrote. "I'm denying your request."

"What?" I asked.

"You're going to have to learn to work with people that you don't like." Old Man Ben replied in a calm tone. "One of my mentors taught me that."

"What happened to us?" I asked, as I stared at him.

He looked up at me.

"I'm sorry?" he asked in a confused tone.

"What happened to us?" I asked. "You said that this is a possible future for me. If that's the case, then you would have given me a partner change. We would think the same!"

He sighed and looked back down.

"You're seventeen kid. It'd be easy to think that we would think the same." he said. "Now go on, stop wasting my time."

"What changed you?" I asked, persisting in my questioning him.

He looked up, looking angry this time.

"You want answers?! Fine! Go to the Wall of the Lost and you will find those answers!" he exclaimed with anger. "Now go!"

He looked back down, not wanting anymore of my questions. So, I did what he said. I turned around and left the room. Now having my own key card, I went to that garden area that had the Wall of the Lost.

 _Everyone here is very rude! And what happened to Old Man Ben? He's the coldest, meanest, most rude person here! There's something that isn't being told. And I have to find out what it is._

I found the garden area again and walked up to the Wall. I began reading the signs. Every sign had one or more names on them, honoring that person. I didn't understand what the big deal was. Yet. I almost gave up reading, when I came across the section that Old Man Ben must have wanted me to see.

It hit me hard, like a ton of bricks. My parent's names were on one of the signs. And Gwen's parent's names were displayed on a sign as well. And the last two names that I read, were the ones that hurt most. The names were: Maxwell Tennyson and Gwen's brother, Kenneth Tennyson.

I began tearing up. Even though this wasn't my dimension and these people weren't technically _my_ relatives, it still hit me hard. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

"They're all dead?" I asked, my voice cracking.

 _Old Man Ben_

 _The Next Morning_

I heard a sound that made me jolt upwards off of my desk, coming out of my sleep. I heard another sound, that made me look up at a tall silver haired man, with grey facial hair. Before speaking, I noticed that the liquor bottle that I had fell asleep with in my hand was gone.

"Albedo." I said. "Where did you come from?"

Albedo took a puff from the cigar that he had in his hand, and blew smoke out through his nose.

"Jesus, Ben. If you needed bombs so bad, why didn't you come to me?" he asked. "You know that Cooper isn't going to get anything done after what's happened to Julie. He's too busy taking care of her to work for you!"

"Well, I wasn't thinking!" I exclaimed. "We've come so far and I can see our victory on the horizon! I guess I just jumped ahead to conclusions too fast. I shouldn't have expected that Cooper could make the charges for us."

Albedo said nothing, but took another puff from his cigar.

"What brought you here Albedo? We haven't spoken in months!" I said. "I can't remember the last time we actually talked for more than a minute or two!"

He blew more smoke from his nose.

"Gwen and your new guy." he said. "They used your teleporter last night."

"What?!" I asked, as I stood up with anger. "They can't use the teleporter! We have a limited supply of energy!"

"But they did, though." Albedo said. "They took two return pads with them. But they haven't returned yet."

"Okay, where did they teleport to?! Was in some where in the city ruins?!" I asked. "If I find them, they will be severely punished! Strictly punished!"

"Ben you can't just go find them. They're not here anymore. The control mechanism for the teleporter didn't show the coordinates that they teleported to." Albedo said.

"But if that's true, than they didn't teleport to a location native to our world! They teleported-" I was speaking, but Albedo interrupted me.

"I know what it means, Ben." Albedo said. "They didn't teleport to a location. Instead, they jumped to a different dimension."

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's the chapter for today! What did you guys think?

* One thing I want to address right out of the gate, is that I have made a bit of a error in the past three chapters. This arc takes place in 2037, right? Wrong. It takes place in 2047 actually. In the last chapter, Old Man Ben mentions that he is forty seven years old. In the year 2017, he is seventeen. So, if it the arc really was set in 2037, we would be _thirty seven_ , not forty seven. So, I've gone back and made edits. You shall no longer see 2037 referenced in the past three chapters. That was the error I made.

* So, why do you think Gwen 10 is giving Ben the cold shoulder and refuses to talk about her dimension's Ben? That will be revealed next chapter, although, I'm pretty sure most of you already know why she won't talk about him, through subtle hints that she made in this chapter.

* Speaking of reveals, in the next chapter, through flashbacks it will be explained what made Ben and Gwen 10 want to teleport and where they went. In fact, most of the next chapter will be centered around them. And about the teleporter, Old Man Ben does have one and it will be explained why and what it was used for in the coming chapters.

* I want to go over one idea that I was given from a review. csgt asked about coming up with a "Bad Ben" who is a villain rather than a hero. And I like the idea, but he's kind of right about Ben 11 already playing that role. I had envisioned Ben 11 as an anti-hero. I'm not sure yet if the original concept will stay, or if I will adapt the character to be a full on villain. Let me know what you think!

* Someone said that they hope that the Albedo from the main story will come into this arc, so that's enough for me. I'll figure out a way to bring him into the arc, so that way, Ben will at least have one person that he knows from his home dimension.

* I know I already posted a chapter today, but I'm going to be updating whenever I can from now on. I have two, possibly three more arcs left in Volume One, as well as maybe one or two stand alone chapters. I want to have Volume One wrapped up by the end of April if I can. Then, I'll take a month off to write the first arc that will open up Volume Two and we'll go from there.

* That's pretty much all I have. If you have anything you'd like to say about the few things above, go ahead and PM me or you can fit it into a review. I'm going to go though. So have a great day and bye.


	54. Chapter 53: Omniverse: Part 5

Chapter 53: Omniverse: Part Five

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter fifty three! And also, welcome to part five of Omniverse!

* So in the last chapter, Old Man Albedo (I might call Old Man Ben's Albedo that) informed Old Man Ben that Gwen 10 and Ben had jumped to a different dimension, via the teleporter. What led up to that and what dimension they went to, will be revealed in this chapter.

* The chapter will mainly focus on them, just so you know. Also, the Ben that we saw in the last chapter, who wore the green jacket, blue jeans and tennis shoes? That was the Ben from Ben 10: Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, if it wasn't obvious. So, with that being said, let's get into the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _The Rebel Base, 2047_

I laid in my cot, trying to forget that I wasn't going home anytime soon. I still couldn't that in this dimension, pretty much the entirety of Old Man Ben's family was dead. I just wanted to get to sleep and wake up from what I was hoping was just a nightmare.

All of a sudden, I felt some nudge me from the other side. I rolled over in my cot and saw someone standing there in the dark. I couldn't tell who it was.

"Do you still want to know what happened to my dimension's Ben?" she asked.

It was Gwen 10, if that wasn't obvious. I sat up.

 _Since when did she have a change of heart?_

"Tell me." I whispered.

"Not here." she said. "Follow me."

I quietly got out of my cot, not wanting to wake up the others and followed her. We walked out of the room. I thought she would sit down and we'd talk about it outside of the Barracks, but no. She kept walking.

I followed her through the hallways for about a minute. Then, we came to a stairwell and went down two flights of stairs. After that, we walked through the halls for a minute or two more. I was beyond confused at this point, but I didn't speak up. She seemed to be willing to talk now and I wasn't going to do anything that could mess that up.

We eventually came to a big room, that had a lot of technology in it. It all looked really advanced.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"It's Old Man Ben's teleporter room. He used it so he could send us home to our different dimensions, so we could pick up clothes and things we would need if we were to stay for a prolonged period of time." Gwen 10 said.

"Wait, let me get this straight. He has a teleporter? For real?" I asked.

"Yes! What did I just say?" she asked with annoyance.

 _I don't think I'll ever get over how annoying she is._

"Okay, sorry. So what are we doing here?" I asked.

"You'll see." Gwen 10 said, as she handed me a sweater. "Put this on and put the hood up. Don't ever put the hood down or take it off."

"Why?" I asked as I took it from her and began putting it on.

"Don't ask questions! Why can't you listen?" she asked. "If I were the Gwen you know, then you'd listen wouldn't you?"

 _That's a good point, I guess?_

"Okay. So, now what?" I asked.

"Step on the pad." she said. "I'll do the rest before joining you."

I looked around the room and saw some sort of pad inside of a circular structure of some kind. I saw her at a control panel, pressing several buttons.

"He taught us all how to use this." she asked. "In the case of emergency."

As she was typing away at the control panel and I heard a sort of sound that I could only say sounded like a ticking sound. After that, she stepped into the circular structure and stepped onto the pad with me. And then, no less than a couple seconds later, I heard some sort of sound that I couldn't relate to another sound and we were whisked away.

 _Dimension 85_

 _Bellwood, 2017_

The next thing I knew, Gwen 10 and I were standing on a neighborhood street. The sun was shining, there were no signs of destruction any where. It looked like I was back home.

"You brought me home?" I asked.

 _Of course that's what I thought. What else was I supposed to think? The possibility that this wasn't my dimension either didn't resonate with me._

"No. This isn't _your_ home." Gwen 10 said. "This is my home. My native dimension, where I came from."

"Oh." I said, as I looked around the area.

Everything looked generally the same. I could of sworn I was back home, but I obviously wasn't.

"So, are we going to go meet your dimension's Ben?" I asked.

"No, not exactly." Gwen 10 said.

I looked at her strangely.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked.

"Let's go." she said, not giving me a definitive answer.

I just followed closely behind her, following her rule of not pulling my hood down. We walked for what seemed like forever. Eventually after leaving the neighborhood and walking a few blocks, and crossing a semi busy street, that's when we came to a cemetery, with fields of green as far as the eye could see.

I was concerned now.

 _Why were we heading into a cemetery?_

We walked through the gates of the cemetery and then she turned around to look at me.

"Do me a favor and stay silent for the first few seconds." Gwen 10 replied, with what seemed like a look of anger in her eyes. "Show some respect."

Not wanting to make her mad, I nodded. She turned back around without saying another word and kept walking. I followed her with caution. After a few more minutes of walking deeper into the cemetery, we came to it. A gravestone.

"Here we are." Gwen 10 said.

And it didn't surprise at this point, when I read the gravestone. It said the following:

 _Here Lies: Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. December, 1999 - January, 2017._

My heart felt like it had stopped. Gwen 10's version of Ben was dead?! I looked over at Gwen 10, who stood there, arms crossed over her chest, looking down at the ground with her eyes closed. It looked like she was trying not to cry, but there was a tear rolling down her cheek.

Now it made sense. I now knew why she wouldn't talk about her dimension's Ben. This dimension's Ben had died. The comment she had made to one of the Bens also made sense now.

I waited for a while, but she never spoke or opened her eyes. After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I turned to look at her.

"How'd he die?" I asked.

She didn't answer, nor did she open her eyes.

"I asked you a question!" I said, as I grabbed her shoulder. "And I expect an answer!"

She instantly recoiled from my touch. She pushed me away and down onto the ground. After I hit the ground, I looked back up at her with shock, as she stared back down at me with a look of anger in her eyes and tears rolling down her cheeks.

It hit me now. When I had seen her begin to cry, those weren't tears of sadness. Those were tears of anger. She was angry, and I had just pissed her off even more than she already was.

"Don't you dare ever touch me! You have no right!" she exclaimed with anger.

"What about an explanation?! Do I have a right to that?!" I exclaimed.

"You want an explanation? Fine! He killed himself, okay? How's that for an explanation?!" she exclaimed.

My heart felt like it came to a complete stop. I looked down at the ground in disbelief. My ears began to ring, blocking out all of the sound for a while. Eventually, the ringing stopped and I looked back up at Gwen 10.

"What?" I asked with disbelief.

"He killed himself." she said, as she began to tear up again. "And all because of something I said to him."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. I want to hear the full story behind all of this." I said. "Will you tell me the full story?"

Gwen 10 walked around to the other side of the gravestone and sat down, with her back up against it. I followed her and sat down across from her, waiting for her to start.

"I suppose it started last November. We were all together for Thanksgiving and Ben was being a royal pain in the ass like always." she began speaking.

"Together for Thanksgiving? But that's not right! In my dimension, you went to a boarding school! We lived on opposite ends of the city!" I said. "And not to mention that we were not together on Thanksgiving! We had a huge fight when we were ten years old and we didn't see each other for seven years!"

Gwen 10 just shrugged as she looked at me with a sad look.

"We come from different dimensions. Not everything can be the same." she said.

"Yeah. That couldn't be anymore true than it is right now." I said.

"I'm sorry. Do you have a problem?" Gwen 10 asked, as she gave me yet another angry look.

"No. This is all just a bit too much to take in all at one time. But go ahead. Continue." I said.

"He had just been dumped by his girlfriend Kai, prior to Thanksgiving Break. And that's when he changed." she said. "He skipped most of dinner and spent most of the night in his room. I needed to take a walk. So, I went for a walk through the woods in his backyard. And that's when I found the crash site."

The very second she said that last sentence, I knew where she was going with this.

"You mean the crash site for this?" I asked, as I pointed at the Omnitrix.

"Yes." she said. "I got to the crash site and found that thing. And being curious, I decided to touch it."

"And then it latched onto your wrist?" I asked.

"I take it at this point, the same thing happened to you?" she asked.

"Minus my dimension's Gwen was not there, but yes. That's exactly how it went for me." I said. "What happened next for you?"

"Unexpectedly, Ben came running into the small clearing, and when he saw me, he began babbling about having lost something." she said. "Upon seeing the alien watch on my wrist, he claimed that it was his."

"It's called the Omnitrix." I said.

"Excuse me?" Gwen 10 asked.

"I called it the alien watch for the longest time, too. That is before I learned that it was alive and could think for itself." I said. "That's when I began to call it the Omnitrix, which is it's true name."

"Whatever. I'll call it what I want to call it and you call it want you want to call it." she replied.

"I understand that. All I'm saying is that you were willing enough to tell me and show me what happened to your Ben." I said. "I'm trying my best to remain open minded and just want to name a few differences from our respective dimensions. If I'm being open minded, I'd hope that you would do the same."

"You're right. I'm sorry." she eventually said.

"So, continue?" I asked.

"So, he asked me to give him the alien watch and claimed that he had found it first. I told him that he was wrong, as I had it on my wrist." she said. "He told me that it was his and he wanted me to hand it over. And, since I didn't believe him, I told him "like hell I'd hand it over". After saying that, I walked back to the house, with him tailing behind me the whole time, trying to convince me that the most outlandish things were going to happen in our future. Still kind of angry, I jokingly asked if he was a psychic now."

"What did he try to convince you of?" I asked.

"The most weirdest things imaginable. He tried to convince me that we used to be romantically involved. That wasn't even the weirdest thing, though." she said, before she looked up at me for the first time in a while. "He tried to convince me that he lost the alien watch after "traveling back through time after making a deal with centuries-old sorcerer named Hex"."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Time travel? Hex?" I asked.

"Someone you know in your home dimension?" she asked.

"Yes, but irrelevant." I said. "Did he give anymore details than that?"

"He said that he had revealed his identity to the press after a brief retirement. He said that it was the biggest mistake he had made. First, he described that his dad, my Uncle was killed by an assassin he called Sixsix." she explained. "This started a chain of events that would evolve into a battle that would last several weeks. After the battle and several deaths he described, he said that Hex agreed to erase the moment where he revealed his identity to the press from his history, in exchange for one thing."

"And?" I asked.

"Hex wanted the romantic relationship that he claimed we had to never exist. He tried to convince me that we held each other as his past was reworked." she said. "He then described waking up from a dream on Thanksgiving evening. That's when he tried to go reclaim the alien watch for himself."

"Did you believe his story?" I asked.

She looked at me with confusion.

"Why would I? He was talking as if he were in a fantasy novel!" she said. "Of course I didn't believe him!"

I just thought to myself for a minute.

"But, we've basically confirmed that the Multiverse Theory is true." Gwen 10 replied. "So now, I'm open to believe anything I'm told."

"Makes sense." I said. "But, you said he killed himself? Why?"

She looked up at me, looking like she'd cry again.

"In the first month and a half, since I wouldn't give the alien watch to him, he said he'd give me some pointers on how to use it. I didn't ask him to and found it really annoying, but I couldn't stop him from doing it." she said. "So, I just went with the flow for the first month and a half. I was surprised when everything he told me about the alien watch was true. But eventually, I got fed up with his advice. And that's when I said the thing that made him eventually do it."

"What'd you say?" I asked.

She looked up at me, crying again.

"I told him to stop with the advice. I didn't need his advice. That I didn't want it either." I said. "He told me that I would need the advice, I'd need the help throughout my time with the watch. I told him to just leave me the hell alone. I told him that he was just a teenage boy and that he can't be a superhero."

She had broke down crying as she said the last three sentences. I looked down at my feet. I looked back up at her.

"The next morning, his parents found him dead in his bedroom." she said, as she looked back up at me, still crying. "He had slit his wrists and allowed himself to bleed out. And all because of something I said to him! It's my fault that he's dead!"

My jaw dropped. I had expected an explanation from her, but this was a bit much than I had expected.

"Go ahead." she said.

"What?" I asked, as I looked back at her with confusion.

"Hate me. I know you'd want to. I hate myself for everything that I had said to him." she said. "You can yell at me, shout at me all you want. I won't mind. I deserve it after all the things I said to you. So go ahead. I don't mind if you hate me."

I just stared at her with shock. I let out a sigh.

"I don't hate you." I said.

"What?" she asked, as she looked up to me. "How can you not hate me? I'm the reason that Ben is dead! It's my fault! If I hadn't had said all of those rude things to him, he'd still be alive!"

"It's not your fault." I said, as I shook my head. "Whether you agree with me or not, your version of Ben wasn't ready for this world."

She kept looking at me.

"And, you can agree or disagree on this, but maybe your dimension is just a fractured from my dimension, like a fractured timeline that doesn't exist in my dimension, if that makes sense." I said. "Maybe something happened, a traumatic event that your Ben experienced, which caused him to remember memories that were not his. I don't know if that makes sense to you."

She shrugged.

"Like I said, after seeing that there are multiple universes and now that I'm taking part in a battle with different versions of Ben, I could believe anything." she said. "But as it stands, he just wasn't acting like himself up to his death. He was acting as if he were a totally different person."

I looked down at my feet.

 _The story as a whole didn't really make a whole lot of sense. She said what happened had happened. She was being truthful, I could trust her on that. Couldn't I?_

"And I only began using the alien watch a couple months after his death. Today, I actually miss his advice. I hardly know what I'm doing with it." she said.

"What month is it now?" I asked.

"The middle of June. Maybe early July, I don't really know." Gwen 10 said. "I've been in Old Man Ben's home dimension for a little bit over a week now."

"Oh." I said.

"I don't deserve to have this thing. Ben never wanted me to have it. So, I don't want to have to use it, but I already have it, so I might as well. And he never gave me his blessing."

"You have _my_ blessing." I said.

She looked back up at me with confusion.

"What?" she asked.

"You don't need his blessing, because you have _mine._ " I said. "You should honor him by doing what he couldn't. He couldn't be a super hero in this dimension. But you can. So honor him. Be the hero that he couldn't. I know you can and you know it, too."

She looked at me, with a smile eventually growing on her face. That was the first time that I had seen her genuinely smile at anyone. Then, she did something that surprised me. She threw her arms around me, sending me to the ground.

"Thanks for saying that." she said as she hugged me.

"No problem." I said, as the weirdness of the situation got to me.

She was nuzzling her nose into my neck, just like my Gwen would do. I wasn't romantically attracted to this Gwen like I was to my Gwen. But even if I was, is it even possible to cheat on your girlfriend with an alternate version of your girlfriend? Does that make sense?

"Can we just stay here for a while?" Gwen 10 asked me.

"Um, I guess." I said.

And with that, we just laid there in the grass together. Eventually, much to my surprise, she fell asleep in my arms. I sighed with surprise. This wasn't right. She may be an alternate Gwen, but she wasn't my Gwen. I gently laid her down onto the grass and stood up and waited for her to wake up.

 _Gwen 10_

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

Eventually, as embarrassing as it was, I fell asleep in Ben's arms. And when I woke up, he was gone and I was lying on the grass all by myself. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Ben?" I asked, not seeing him at first.

"We can't stay here." I heard him say.

I looked up at him, to see him standing a foot or two away from me. I pulled my knees closer to my chest and let out a sad sigh. The memories of Ben up until his death had come back as I told this Ben the story. But this time, I smiled.

He had helped me realize that my Ben's suicide wasn't my fault. He was right. He wasn't ready for this world. I looked up at Ben standing there.

"I think the thing that bugs me the most, is that I never got to say goodbye to him." I said.

Ben turned to look at me, looking confused.

"I never got to say goodbye to Ben, so to me, he's not really gone. He's just not here right now." I said. "I hope that makes sense."

"It does. I can understand that." he said. "But we can't stay here. We have a battle to fight and we have to get back to Old Man Ben's dimension."

"You're right. We should have been in and out of this dimension. We spent probably half an hour here." I said.

"I feel like we're going to need all the help we can get." I said. "Is there anyway that we can jump to my dimension for a minute?"

I looked at him for a minute. I swung my backpack around and brought out our return pads.

"Let's find out." I said, as I stepped onto my return pad, followed by him stepping on his.

 _Ben_

 _Sometime Later_

 _Bellwood, 2047_

We finally jumped back to Old Man Ben's dimension from my home dimension. We popped back into Old Man Ben's machinery room. As the steam from the teleporter slowly dissipated, Albedo, who stood next to me, spoke.

"I don't really know what to make of that story you just told me. The weirdest thing about this is that this Gwen has an Omnitrix. What's up with that?" he asked.

"Just go with it. That's what I did when I first got here." I said.

Eventually, the steam dissipated and I saw the the entire bunker's population standing in the room with us. Emo Ben, Ten Year Old Ben, Teenage Ben, Ben 11, Punk Rock Ben, Old Man Ben, plus a guy who looked like Ben, but with silver hair and a silver beard instead of it being brown.

 _Is it possible that he is this dimension's Albedo?_

"You used my teleporter?!" Old Man Ben exclaimed angrily. "You can't do that! We have a limited supply of energy! And you brought someone from your dimension here? You can't do that, either! He's not one of us!"

"How? How is he not one of us?!" I exclaimed. "You apparently have an Albedo of your own in this dimension!"

"That's not the point! The point is-" he tried speaking further than that, but he just began to angrily sputter as his face grew to a cherry red color.

All of a sudden our "argument" was interrupted by the sound of an infant crying. Being confused, Albedo and I looked around the room, trying to locate the source of the sound. Eventually, a middle-aged looking woman with darker toned skin than all of us in the room. The child in her arms had light brown hair, and slightly dark skin.

I watched the woman walk up to Old Man Ben, who seemed to have forget about his anger.

"Ben, honey, little Kenny got woken up and refused to calm down." she said, as she reached him.

"Give him here." Old Man Ben said in a gentle tone, as he took the child that the woman had called "Little Kenny" from her.

He began to gently rock the child, and he seemed to calm down a little bit. I was in a state of disbelief as I watched as Old Man Ben slowly got Little Kenny to calm down.

"Who- who is this?" I asked with disbelief.

"This is my two and a half year old son, Kenny." Old Man Ben said, as he continued to gently rock him in his arms.

"No, no, no, I get that. Who is _that_?" I asked, as I pointed at the woman.

"Oh, her? She's my wife," he said, as he continued with rocking Kenny. "Kai Green-Tennyson."

As he said this, I felt like I had been shot. I stood there, as I stared off into space and began to hear ringing in my ears. I tilted my head a little, as I stared at the ground, continuing to stare off into space. I felt someone touch my shoulder and shake me a little bit, and I came out of the episode I was having.

"Are you okay?" I heard Gwen 10 ask me.

I turned around and put my hand out to them, trying to let them know to get back. I turned back to Old Man Ben and looked at him. I put my hand over my mouth, before letting it fall back to my side, and speaking.

"What the fuck do you mean she's your wife?!" I exclaimed angrily, which caused Little Kenny to start crying again.

Kai looked offended, but I didn't care. Old Man Ben cursed with anger, as he continued to rock Little Kenny, but to no avail.

"What about Gwen?! What happened to her?! Kai Green is your ex-girlfriend!" I exclaimed even more angrily. "Why aren't you married to Gwen?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Oh kid, you don't know, do you?" Old Man Ben asked.

"Know what?!" I asked, still angry.

Old Man Ben turned to Kai and began to whisper to her. After a minute or two if whispering, Kai eventually took the still crying Little Kenny. Old Man Ben stepped forward, looking down at me.

"Come on kid, let's go." he said.

"Go where?!" I asked. "I'm not going anywhere until I get an explanation from you!"

"Then let's go to your proof." Old Man Ben said, as he began to walk towards the room's exit. "Get a move on before I change my mind."

I looked at Gwen 10 and Albedo, who both urged me to go, so I did.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

Old Man Ben and I took a tunnel to an unknown location.

"This way. Come on." Old Man Ben said in a whisper, as he climbed up a ladder and opened up a hatch.

Once he was out of the way, I climbed up the ladder and through the hatch, up into a room. I recognized the room. It was my basement.

 _What were we doing here?_

I looked around for a split second, before Old Man Ben spoke.

"This way." he said, as he moved towards the stairs.

I followed him up the stairs, through that small hallway and into the kitchen. And then, he silently opened the door to the backyard. He ushered me to follow him, and so I did. We moved into the backyard. It was the exact same as my backyard, minus a few subtle differences.

Such as the grass being dead, the woods beyond our fence being completely devoid of any leaves and also, there was something in between our back door and the back fence. It was two small wooden planks, tied together into the shape of a cross.

"Go ahead kid. Go take it in." he said, as he lightly pushed me forwards.

I walked towards the wooden cross, and attempted to read the letters that had been carved into the wood, but the light was too dim for me to read right away. Once I could read it, I let out a gasp of shock.

Carved into the wood, was the name: _Gwen Tennyson._

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's the chapter!

* So, in this chapter, we learned of the history behind Gwen 10's version of Ben. What did everyone think of his history?

* For those of you who don't understand why Gwen didn't come back with Ben and Albedo, I'll discuss that in the next chapter, if not a future chapter.

* But of course, the thing that I haven't addressed yet, Gwen's death. The fact that Old Man Ben's Gwen is dead. I can almost imagine a few readers hating on this decision, but nevertheless, the next chapter will go deep into detail of what happened to her.

* So, with that being said, I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.


	55. Chapter 54: Omniverse: Part 6

Chapter 54: Omniverse: Part Six

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter fifty-five, as well as part six of Omniverse!

* Before I get to the major details in this author's note, I just want to say that I have injured my right hand and typing is quite frustrating right now. So, this chapter took triple the amount of time to get it out, than it usually does. But either way, I still want to push the story further, no matter how long it takes.

* This chapter will go into depth about Old Man Ben's past. The subjects being explained in this chapter will be Old Man Ben's final moments with Gwen and how he eventually ended up with Kai. This could all be done in this chapter or stretched over two whole chapters. I'm not sure about that yet, but we'll see how it goes.

* One last thing, starting this Sunday I will start uploading chapters for Ben 10: The Vilgaxian Order again. I will only post on Sundays for that story. "Volume One", as I call it, of the story had about eleven chapters, so Volume Two will probably have more or less the same amount of chapters.

* Anyway, with all of that being said, on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Bellwood, 2047_

I stared at the wooden gravestone, as my eyes began to water. A few tears ran down my cheeks.

 _No. No, no, no._

"No!" I said, as I slammed my fist into the ground, after falling onto my knees.

I heard Old Man Ben approach me and he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't talk so loud!" he urged me. "We can't afford to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves!"

I got back up on my feet and looked at Old Man Ben, with anger growing in my eyes.

"What happened?! What did you do?!" I exclaimed. "Why is Gwen dead in this timeline?!"

Old Man Ben put out his hands and gave me a look of urgency, telling me to quiet down, but I ignored him.

"You said that this is a possible future for me in a sea of possible futures." I exclaimed with anger. "So I have a right to know what the fuck happened!"

"I'll explain it to you when we get back to base." Old Man Ben replied.

"You'll explain it to me now, damn it!" I exclaimed.

"No, I won't! I can't right now!" he said. "Thanks to your idiotic choice of yelling, any passing patrols could have heard you and are on their way here. So, let's go now! We have to get back to the tunnel!"

He walked away from me and back to the house before I could say anything else. Seeing no choice, I decided to follow him. He walked back through the old sliding glass door and into the old, creaking remains of the house. This time, he didn't close the back door after I came back through.

"Aren't you going to close the back door?" I asked.

"Why should I? This house no longer has any meaning to me." he said. "This house is a mausoleum and any one who robs it, is robbing a mass grave. I don't care enough anymore to lock up."

 _Wow. If he doesn't care enough about anything anymore and is always angry, he must have had a traumatic past. And I really hope that we don't share this future..._

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Later_

We had made it back to base, and thankfully, Ben hadn't questioned me anymore as we journeyed through the tunnel. We settled down in the Mess Hall, sitting down at a table in the back of the room, not to be disturbed.

"So, first things first, how long as she been dead?" Ben asked me.

"Nearly three decades, give or take." I said.

"Three decades?!" Ben exclaimed with anger. "How is it possible?!"

Before I could answer, I saw Gwen 10 and Ben's Albedo approaching.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" I asked them.

"Hoping down to sit in and listen." Gwen 10 said.

"No. You've already heard the story." I said. "As for him, it doesn't concern him."

"But I'm Ben's bro!" Albedo protested.

I ignored him and waved them away without another word.

"You told Gwen 10 the story, but not me?! What the fuck, dude?!" Ben exclaimed.

"I didn't tell you because I could never find the time!" I said. "There never was a right time to tell you!"

"That's bullshit! You were just protecting yourself!" Ben exclaimed with anger once more. "You knew that if I found out I'd be pissed at you!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Do you want to know the story or not?" I asked in an impatient tone.

"Yes, I do." Ben said.

"Then shut up and listen kid." I said. "You're making me impatient."

 _Three Decades Earlier_

 _Bellwood, 2018_

 _The worst week of my life began like any other. A thunderstorm woke me up on the start of the first day. Gwen, Albedo and I were all now agents of S.E.C.T., but we didn't live in S.E.C.T. Headquarters. We continued living at home like normal people. Zombozo, the Energy Vampire had escaped from a S.E.C.T. controlled prison in San Francisco. He was coming back for me after our last confrontation._

 _It had just stopped raining when we had gotten the warrant on Zombozo that S.E.C.T. had released. My squad and I were going after him. We eventually found him in Downtown Bellwood, robbing a bank to draw me out. Eventually, through the whole fight, I heard Gwen scream while I was distracted._

"Gwen!" I exclaimed. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine!" she exclaimed, as I turned to see Gwen kicking Zombozo off of her.

The rest of the fight didn't last very long. It was almost as if Zombozo was looking to be caught. We got him under control and eventually, S.E.C.T. came for him. As S.E.C.T. was collecting him, I looked over at Gwen, to see her rubbing her neck.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. My neck is itchy." she said. "That's all."

I went back to assisting S.E.C.T. with getting a restrained Zombozo into their van, without giving it a second thought.

 _That night, the weirdness began. After showering and getting into bed with Gwen, she didn't even roll over to acknowledge my presence. She just laid there, with her back to me, facing the wall. Eventually, getting over my confusion, I let out a sigh and turned off the light, before trying to go to sleep._

 _The next day, when waking up, Gwen was still asleep and that left me with nothing to do. So I got out of bed to go see if Albedo wanted to game for a while. Luckily, that's exactly what he was doing._

"Hey, man." I said, upon coming down the basement stairs.

"Sup, bro." Albedo replied, without looking up from his game.

I noticed that he was playing BioShock 2.

"BioShock 2, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah. I beat the first game last Christmas." he said. "And I'm just now getting to the second game."

"BioShock is such a good fps series." I said. "The first game being the best in my opinion."

"Ain't that the truth." Albedo remarked.

"Want to play a game since I have nothing else to do?" I asked.

"Sure. What game did you have in mind?" Albedo asked as he saved his game.

"Um, how about Combat Evolved?" I asked.

Albedo sighed with disappointment as he turned to look at me.

"Look dude, I get that Combat Evolved is your favorite first person shooter game. Mine is Medal of Honor: Frontline." Albedo replied. "But after we were sucked into that damn game a few months, I'm not going to be able to play it and make an enjoyable experience out of it."

"Understandable, dude." I said. "What game do you want to play?"

"Um, Frontline can't be played in co-op." he said. "So, how about Call of Duty: World at War?"

"Classic World War II with a gritty campaign?" I asked, grinning as I flopped down next to him on the couch. "I like where this is going."

"Thought you would." Albedo said, as he got up to change the discs.

Eventually he put in World at War and booted up the game. We sat through the opening awe-sounding Treyarch intro, showing black and white reels from the war. And eventually, we got to the main menu of the game.

"Can we just sit and listen to this awe-inspiring soundtrack for a minute?" I asked.

"Dude, it's kinda depressing though." Albedo remarked.

"But it sounds _amazing_!" I said.

"Okay, you have a point." Albedo said. "Fine, one minute."

After one minute of nostalgia bringing music, Albedo pressed the start button.

"Okay, so are we playing Zombies or Campaign?" I asked.

"You mean Nazi Zombies?" Albedo asked.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't say that word!" I said.

"What word? Nazi?" Albedo asked. "What's wrong with Nazi?"

"Um, it's a bad word? Offensive word? Powerful word?" I asked.

"Okay, I get the point. Sorry." Albedo said. "But you're the one who mentioned a gritty campaign. So, I thought we were playing that?"

"Okay, that's cool." I said. "Let's do it man."

And so with that, we started the Campaign on Semper Fi and began to play.

 _Our long playthrough spanned until about noon, and I had woken up at 8:30, sleeping in for once in while. Once we actually stopped for a bathroom break and to get something to eat, we had made it halfway through the main Campaign. Albedo was the one who needed a bathroom break. I waited for him to return and eventually, he ran back down the stairs in what seemed like a rush._

"Dude!" he exclaimed, getting down the stairs, out of breath.

"Albedo?" I asked. "What is it?"

He stood there for a minute, catching his breath.

"It's Gwen! She hasn't gotten out of bed at all today!" Albedo said.

"So what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "We had a day yesterday! As long as she's awake, I think it's fine!"

"Yeah, she is awake! But something isn't right!" he persisted. "She's wearing a long-sleeved shirt and it looked like she was shivering!"

"Long sleeved shirt? But it's the middle of summer!" I exclaimed.

"I know! I really think you should go look at her!" he said.

I was off of the couch and running towards the stairs before he finished his sentence. I rushed through the kitchen and living room which was occupied by my parents, not even saying anything to them. My parents stayed home this summer, after I told them about the Omnitrix and telling them that I knew of their involvement with S.E.C.T.

They sat me down and explained to me why they couldn't tell me about their involvement, but that isn't the point. I walked into our room, where Albedo stood outside in the hall and waited. I saw Gwen sitting up in bed with her back against the wall, shivering.

"Gwen?" I asked with worry. "Are you okay?"

She looked at me but didn't say anything. I could see her sweating a little bit. That thing that stood out the most, was that she was kinda pale.

"Gwen?" I asked, again as I touched her hand.

My hand recoiled as I realized that her hand was cold like ice. Being startled and even more worried, I felt her forehead, and she didn't nothing to resist. I drew back my hand with shock. She was giving off heat like a furnace!

"Gwen?" I asked with worry, as I drew my face back away from hers.

After seeing my worry, she slowly pulled down the scarf, which revealed a square bandage on her neck. She gently pulled off the bandage, as she gasped with pain. Once the bandage was out of the way, I saw a bite mark on her neck. The surrounding skin was red and irritated from the bite. It may have been just me, but it also looked like some of the tissue around the bite was slowly being eaten away.

Gwen put the bandage down on the bed, before looking at me with a glum look on her face. I looked at her with despair.

"Zombozo did this, didn't he?" I asked.

She just nodded with the same glum look.

"I knew it! I knew something was wrong last night!" I said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Gwen didn't answer, she just stared off into space.

"Gwen?" I asked with worry.

She looked back at me.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

"Gwen, you don't have to apologize! You didn't know what would happen!" I said. "You thought that you'd be fine!"

"I'm so cold, Ben." she said.

I just sat and looked at her with worry. What had Zombozo done to her? Who knew what his bite would do to her! You'd think that since Zombozo was what I called an "Energy Vampire", Gwen would be converted into a vampire like him and would take on those instincts.

But realistically, I didn't know. Zombozo could have infected her with a bug or a virus, or something like that. But if that was the case, I had no idea how the "virus" was affecting her immune system.

I sighed with worry. This whole fever and chills thing, along with the bite, was like something right out of The Walking Dead. I began to tear up. I gently kissed Gwen's forehead, despite the heat she was giving off. I was scared for her and I had no idea what we could do for her.

 _Ben_

 _Bellwood, 2047_

"She was bit? Zombozo bit her?" I asked with slight anger.

"Yes." Old Man Ben said, as he teared up a little.

"What happened? Did she convert into a vampire?" I asked. "Did you have to put her down?"

He shook his head.

"No. But I wish that were the case." he said. "Then that way, maybe I could have talked to her. Helped her. But that's not the way it went."

"Then what happened?! I'm a little impatient here!" I exclaimed, as I stood up and slammed my fists down with anger.

"Kid, you need to shut the fuck up and calm down." he said. "You think it's hard for you?! Kid, these are traumatic memories for me!"

My gaze softened a little bit.

"You're right. I'm sorry." I said, as I sat back down. "Will you tell me the rest of the story?"

Before Old Man Ben could open his mouth, the ceiling on the other side of the Mess Hall caved in.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's the chapter for today! I got it out as fast as I could with my injured hand, but I got it!

* So, what did you guys think? What's going on with Gwen? Or, Old Man Ben's Gwen, rather? What did you guys think of Old Man Ben and Old Man Albedo's bickering (in the past) about video games?

* Obviously, the rest of Old Man Ben's story will continue in the next chapter. What did you think of Old Man Ben's story? What do you think happened there at the end, to cause have caused the ceiling of the Mess Hall to cave in?

* Anyway, I want to thank you for reading. Please favorite and follow the story, if you are a new reader. Reviews are much appreciated and if you want to submit your opinion, you could always PM me.

* Before I go, I just wanted to say that I'm considering killing off one of the Bens/misc characters in this story arc. And I may create a poll for this on my profile, if my readers are interested. The mainstream Ben, Gwen 10 and Old Man Ben would be safe from this poll. Ben and Old Man Ben are obviously safe. Gwen 10, however, I think has potential after the arc is over. You will see what I mean later on at the end of the arc. I may or may not do the poll, but if you guys want to encourage me to do a poll, please do! I would love feedback on this!

* I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and, bye!


	56. Chapter 55: Omniverse: Part 7

Chapter 55: Omniverse: Part Seven

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter fifty five, as well as part seven of Omniverse!

* Before we get into the chapter, I want to go over a few questions/misconceptions/errors that were left in reviews. First thing, I know that I had said that the fact that Ben's Gwen from his home dimension not being with them now, would be explained in the last chapter. And obviously, it wasn't explained. But I promise that in this chapter, it will be explained.

* Second thing, um, the comment that I got saying they'd like to see Ben cheat on his Gwen with Gwen 10, like they seek comfort from one another. I won't lie. I've thought about the concept. And I kinda like it, to be honest. But, I don't know if I actually want to try implementing it into the story. I'll explain this further in the closing author's note, so look out for that!

* Third thing, someone reviewed, and told me to "please don't make Gwen 10 die". Well, you can rest knowing that Gwen 10 will not die. I had already told you guys that Ben, Gwen 10 and Old Man Ben are safe from being killed off. Gwen 10 is just too much of an important for me to kill off. I believe that she has potential after Omniverse is done for. In other words, as Omniverse ends, Gwen 10's story won't be over.

* That's pretty much all I have to say. With all of that said, on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _The Rebel Base, 2047_

The explosion rocked the Mess Hall, causing half of the ceiling to cave in. Unfortunately, Gwen 10 and I were separated on opposite sides of the Mess Hall. The people on my side were Old Man Ben, who had been telling me his story and Albedo, who had been standing nearby.

Almost at the same time as the ceiling caved in, the lights went out. It took a few seconds for the backup power to come on, therefore, the emergency lights took that long to come on. It wasn't like the regular lights though. These lights were really dim, hence them being backup lights.

"The Emperor's Order must have found us!" Old Man Ben exclaimed. "They must be launching an attack!"

"Who is the Emperor again?" I asked. "I don't think I was told."

"It's Vilgax, isn't it obvious?" Old Man Ben asked. "He took over as Emperor!"

"How'd he do that?" Albedo asked.

"In spring of 2032, Vilgax dropped a Gamma Bomb on the city." Old Man Ben said. "None of my relatives survived."

"A Gamma Bomb? As in radiation?" I asked.

Old Man Ben shook his head.

"No. Contrary to popular belief, the Gamma Bomb that Vilgax dropped didn't use radiation." he said. "It was entirely explosive-based. It left the entirety of Downtown Bellwood in ruins. Then Vilgax moved in, erected his tower and took leadership over any of the survivors."

"Hee-hee, erect." Albedo said. "Bow-Chicka-Bow-Wow!"

I face-palmed. It was clear to me that he was referencing Red vs. Blue, the lines of Tucker's character from Season 4. I remembered that we share my memories up until his "birth". I also knew that Albedo was a pervert, and must have inherited my "naughty traits".

I still had those "naughty traits", and would occasionally make naughty quips. Unlike Albedo however, my naughty side seemed to be greatly suppressed. I turned around to face Albedo.

"Do you mind?! We're getting attacked and you're standing here, making sexual references!" I said. "We have to help Old Man Ben and his Alliance defeat Vilgax! Then, he can use his teleporter to send us home!"

Albedo just stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Ben, I don't know how to say this, but I'm not going back with you!" Albedo said.

My heart felt like it had stopped.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm sorry dude, but I don't want to go back. There's nothing for me there." he said.

"But that's our home! And you're my brother! You can't just stay!" I said. "My life and Gwen's life wouldn't be complete without you!"

Albedo did something that took me by surprise. He put his forearm up against my chest and angrily pushed me back. I saw his eyes flicker black for a split second.

"I don't care! The only thing that I have waiting for me back there is the prospect of watching you and Gwen grow old together!" he exclaimed in a deep voice at first. "I'm sick of being a fucking third wheel! If I stay here, I can start a new life for myself! So that way, you and Gwen can have your happily ever after, without me!"

Albedo angrily shoved me against the wall.

"Calm down, kid!" Old Man Ben said.

"Shut up, old man!" Albedo exclaimed.

"Albedo!" I scolded him.

"Fuck off, Ben!" Albedo exclaimed, before walking off to the opposite side of our half of the Mess Hall.

I turned to Old Man Ben after Albedo's outburst.

"Sorry about him. I really don't know what's wrong with him." I said. "He hasn't been the same since the incident with the Forever Knights."

"Your first encounter with the Forever Knights?" Old Man Ben asked. "You mean when Albedo was injected with Loboan DNA, as well as Vladat DNA?"

"Loboan and Vladat DNA?" I asked. "What are those?"

"A Loboan is basically an alien werewolf. And a Vladat is basically an alien vampire." Old Man Ben replied. "My Albedo went through that, so I assume that your dimension's version of him went through the same thing."

"Probably. Late last night, I came outside to see him on the roof, with lots more hair than he usually had." I said. "He was also howling at the moon. When he noticed me, he lunged towards me, slicing me across the face with claws. Looked like a Wolf-Man more than anything."

Old Man Ben nodded.

"If he was injected with the DNA samples like my Albedo was, then he's already beginning to mutate." he said. "It's only a matter until he goes full werewolf. Then, he won't be able to distinguish friend from foe. He'll attack anything that gets in his way."

"Wait, if that's the case, then how is your Albedo still friendly and good?" I asked.

"I crafted a serum for him. On top of that, he meditates." Old Man Ben replied. "Those two things combined are the only thing keeping him from turning completely."

"Damn. Can you give my Albedo one of those serums?" I asked.

Old Man Ben shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I only crafted one serum." he said. "I never anticipated this entire scenario."

"It's okay." I said. "Wait, wait, wait. You said that Gwen was bitten by Zombozo and the bite eventually killed her. So, how are both of our Albedo's alive after being injected with those samples?"

"Well, a bite or a transfusion from a Vladat won't kill you. It just slowly converts you into one of them, just like a bite or DNA supplement from a Loboan will do." he said. "But Zombozo? He's something else. He's not a regular vampire. He's what you and I call an Energy Vampire. He was infected with an advanced strain. And even so, he wasn't always like that. He was once human."

"Really?" I asked.

Old Man Ben nodded.

"Back when the three of us became agents of S.E.C.T., there were certain files that we gained access to. A file detailing the existence of S.E.C.T.'s Augmentation Program was one such file." he said. "Zombozo was human once, had a human name. He was a volunteer for the Augmentation Program. They injected him with some kind of serum that S.E.C.T. had cooked up. He was okay for a day or two. On the third day, he converted. He became what you and I call Zombozo. And that was that. Whatever S.E.C.T. injected him with, that virus he passes along when he bites someone, it kills them."

"Wow." I said.

"Well actually, there is something I can do for Albedo." Old Man Ben said.

"What?" I asked.

"If you can get me back to my lab, then I can develop a serum that will keep the virus from doing it's job." he said. "It won't cure him though. It'll only buy him extra time. My guess is two days more."

"It's the best offer I got." I said. "I'll take it. But first, you have another half of a story to tell me."

"Not now. We may be getting attacked. Right now you have to find your partner, Gamma. But you'll have to leave through that tunnel." he said, as he pointed to the tunnel entrance hidden behind the shelf. "Here. Take this."

He brought out a folded up map. I took it from him.

"And this." Old Man Ben said, taking out a key card and handing it to me.

I took that from him, too.

"You'll exit here, in the outskirts of Downtown Bellwood's ruins. You'll stay hidden, and make you're way around to here." he said, tracing the path I would take and pointed at where the ruins of my house sat. "Then, take the tunnel in the basement, and you will come out onto the side of the base that we're seperated from. after you've found Gamma and any other survivors, retrace your steps and get back here. Then I'll tell you the rest of the story."

"Okay, I'll do that." I said.

"And take him with you." he said, pointing to Albedo. "If he's going to live with us and be one of us, he has to help fight the good fight."

"Okay, will do." I said, as I turned to face Albedo. "Come on, Albedo!"

"I'm not deaf!" Albedo said, as he violently pushed me aside and moved towards the shelf. "Come on, let's go!"

"Oh, what am I thinking? I can't let you guys go out there without these." Old Man Ben said, as he walked over to a rack of Laser Firearms.

He took a two Laser Pistols and Laser Rifles each off of the rack. He handed one of each weapon to Albedo and I.

"You take these with you. If you are spotted by any of the Emperor's patrols, you kill them." he said. "Now go! And bring back my people alive!"

Albedo moved the shelf out of the way so that we could enter the tunnel. Then, we began running down the tunnel. We ran for almost a minute, before Albedo stopped running. I came to a stop, too.

"Albedo, is everything okay?" I asked.

"No, Ben. Everything is not okay." he said. "I need you to make me a promise."

"Um, okay..." I said.

"I heard you and that old man talking. I heard you talking about how I could convert to a full werewolf." he said, as he gave me a serious look. "If I go full werewolf, you have to promise me something. If it even looks like I'm going to attack you, you put a bullet in my head. I don't want to spend my final moments being a threat. So, you promise me."

I was in shock.

 _Albedo actually wants me to kill him if he converts and tries to attack someone?_

Finally, after a lot of thinking, I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, Albedo." I said. "I can't do it."

"Like hell you can't! If the time comes that I pose a threat, you _will_ kill me." he said, as he got into my face. "Now come on."

Albedo ran down the tunnel, leaving me in the dark. Eventually, although I was freaked out, I had to catch up.

 _Sometime Later..._

We eventually came up on the outskirts of the Ruins of Downtown Bellwood, and began the journey to the remains of my neighborhood. Walking with my Laser Rifle in hand, I eventually decided to talk to Albedo some more.

"Hey, there's been something that I can't get out of my head lately." I said.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Where's Gwen at? When Gwen 10 and I came too grab you, she was nowhere to be seen." I said. "What happened to her?"

"I don't really know. Once Ghostfreak teleported you away, he grabbed Gwen and disappeared, along with her." Albedo said. "I don't know what happened to her. Honestly, I'm beginning to think that she's dead."

"Don't say that!" I exclaimed. "We have to have hope!"

Albedo stopped walking and looked at me with a glare on his face.

"What do you want me to say, Ben?! There is no hope! There is _nothing_ for us back home! Gwen may as well be dead! So, it's time to restart!" he hissed at me. "And we're going to kill Vilgax, we're going to end this war and we're going to rebuild this world! We can restart our lives here, grow old here, we can _live here_! All we have to do is kill Vilgax and put our past lives behind us. It's what Gwen would have wanted us to do."

"Albedo, there is hope! Gwen may be dead, but that's not what she would have wanted for us." I said. "We don't have to kill! We just have to get Vilgax to stand down!"

"Ben, you're not listening to me! The old man told us that Vilgax dropped a Gamma Bomb on the city, killing his entire family!" he said. "Vilgax has to die! And if you don't realize that Ben, then you're an idiot!"

He turned around and began to walk away. My eye twitched a little as I watched him walk away. I dropped my Laser Rifle on the ground and walked up to Albedo as he walked away. I grabbed his shoulder and began to turn him so he was facing me.

"Albedo, you little asshole!" I exclaimed.

"Wha-?!" he spoke, but I interrupted him by punching him in the jaw, sending him to the ground.

He didn't attempt to get back up.

"What the hell man?!" he said.

"You stay down! We're going to help finish this conflict and we're going to go home to Gwen. And we aren't going to kill Vilgax!" I said. "Albedo, when we first met and had our first fight, eventually I realized that you weren't the bad guy. So, I put away my gun and we stopped fighting. It was right and it still is."

Albedo looked up at me with anger, but said nothing. I reached out my hand.

"So, what do you say?" I asked. "Let's do what's right!"

He kept staring up at me, before angrily slapping my hand away.

"Just stay out of my way." he said, as he got up and slowly walking away.

I turned to pick up my Laser Rifle, and then hurried to catch up with him.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

We eventually made our way to the tunnel entrance in the basement of my house. I opened up the hatch and looked at Albedo.

"Let's go." I said.

Albedo just grunted with anger, before going down the ladder first. I raised my eyebrow as he headed down.

 _Old Man Ben is right about one thing. He is getting more aggressive and violent._

I followed him down the ladder, not wanting to keep him waiting. After a long walk down the tunnel, we came to the next hatch. We emerged in the lower levels of Old Man Ben's bunker, which seemed to be unscathed from the attack. We moved slowly through the halls of the bunker, looking for Gwen 10 and occasionally avoiding the Emperor's patrols.

Eventually, we came up on the next floor and found a room that stood out than any of the others that I had seen yet. We were in come kind of cavern, with a few bridges crossing over to the other side of the bunker.

No, it was a canyon or trench of some kind. I looked up and around the area we were now in.

"Who knew that Old Man Ben's bunker went through an underground rupture?" I asked out loud.

Albedo said nothing, so I just moved forward as he followed. We crossed the bridge and into the other side of the bunker. We eventually entered a two story room and there she was. Gwen 10 was crouching behind a cover, with her back to us. I stepped on a shard of glass, causing it to break.

Gwen 10 whirled around, pointing her Laser Rifle at us, before realizing who we were.

"Ben!" she exclaimed, with a happy look on her face.

She dropped her Rifle and ran over to me, hugging me, knocking my rifle from my hands.

"Oh, thank God." she murmured, as she rested her head on my chest.

I just stood there, with my arms in the air, on either side of me, not knowing how to react to her hugging me. Eventually, not knowing what else to do, I just laid my hands on her back and began to pat her back.

"Are you done yet?!" Albedo exclaimed. "Jesus Christ, Ben! You have a girlfriend already!"

What he said made me go cold.

"I'm gonna need you to back up for a minute." I whispered to Gwen 10.

She let go of me and backed up. I turned around to face Albedo and stepped up to him.

"Drop your Rifle Albedo." I said.

"What? Wh-" he began to speak, but I interrupted him.

"Drop the Rifle." I said.

Albedo dropped the Rifle and then I kneed him in the stomach. Gwen 10 gasped in shock and Albedo lost his breath. I then punched him in the jaw twice and sent him down to the ground.

"What the hell Albedo?! You actually think that I'd cheat on my girlfriend?!" I exclaimed. "If you think that I'd actually cheat on Gwen, than _you're_ the fucking idiot here!"

"Jesus, Ben." Gwen 10 replied.

Just then there was a noise coming from the room's balcony.

"Get down!" Gwen 10 hissed at me.

I got behind cover with her and we just barely peered over to see what was going on. We saw one of the Emperor's Knights standing up there Laser Rifle in hand, looking around.

"I could have sworn that I heard voices in here." he said.

I didn't hear anyone else speak, so I considered the fact that he could be talking to someone over a radio. I heard nothing else after that.

"There's nothing here, forget it." he said, as I heard him begin to move away.

"Wha-?" Albedo said out loud, sitting up all of a sudden.

"Shh!" Gwen 10 and I both whispered to him.

But it was too late. I heard the Knight quickly turn around and walk back to the edge of the balcony.

"Don't move! Don't you dare move!" the Knight exclaimed. "Put your hands up now! Do you have anyone else with you?"

Gwen 10 stood up, putting up her hands and motioned for me to do the same. I sighed and stood with my hands up. We both moved to stand with Albedo.

"Right then. Now I'd like to ask that y-" he was speaking, when the unexpected happened.

Someone had snuck up on him and put their hand over the Knight's mouth. Next, I saw a green, diamond blade rip through his tunic. His eyes widened, as he let out a muffled scream. Next, the blade twisted, so the Knight wouldn't survive the wound.

His eyes eventually rolled up into his head and he was dropped by his attacker. His attacker was Ben 11. I could tell, because of the mutated form and the four arms. Then, he did something that surprised me.

Once his diamond blade converted back into a hand, he crouched down. He shocked me by getting some of the Knight's blood onto his hand from the wound. Then, he stood back up and began to rub the blood onto his face. He let out a bit of a creepy laugh.

"Shit." I said.

 _I think that I was beginning to realize just how crazy Ben 11 was._

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for another chapter! I hope you all enjoyed!

* So in this chapter, we learned what happened to Albedo at the Forever Knights building, and that he's slowly converting into a Loboan. What are your opinions on this and does anyone think that he can be cured? There is some conflict between Ben and Albedo at the moment. Speaking of Albedo, how did you react when he told Ben that he doesn't want to go home? And we also learned some backstory of this dimension's Zombozo.

* Now, onto the whole Gwen 10 and Ben thing, a few people want to see Ben cheat on Gwen with Gwen 10. And I'll be honest. It's an interesting concept ad I have given it some thought. And so, I will say that they may kiss once or Gwen 10 may peck Ben on the cheek, but don't expect anything more than that.

* The next chapter will have more "Young Man Ben" flashbacks, I guess you'd call them.

* Anyway, I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and, bye!


	57. Chapter 56: Omniverse: Part 8

Chapter 56: Omniverse: Part Eight

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter fifty-six, as well as part eight of Omniverse!

* You guys are eating these chapters up, and with my bad right hand, I can't keep up with the pace that has been set for releases. Well, my right hand is better now, but I that doesn't change the fact that I'm going to have to get used to being able to use it again.

* So, in the coming chapters, the third and final faction will be introduced into the arc. The first two factions, which are at war, are the Resistance and the Emperor's Order, I think I referred to them as such.

* The rest of Old Man Ben's past will be fully explored in this chapter, so the wait is over! That being said, with what's left of his past that needs to be told, this may be an extra long chapter, which is something I'm sure my readers appreciate from time to time!

* One thing before I get to the final announcement that I have. I recently got a negative review for this story, and I highly dislike negative reviews. I won't be naming any names, but I was criticized for my use of God's name as a curse word. Look, I'm open minded to religion, and I get that there are a lot of religious people out there and that they don't like that sort of thing, I get it.

* I however, am not that kind of person and I don't get the big deal of the whole thing. I'm not religious, I've just never had the time or interest in going to church or anything like that. But I do respect the religious type of people. It's just that I don't get the whole big deal about the whole thing. Last thing, if you hate my story, then don't read it. I'm not saying that any of my active readers hate this story or my content. It's just another thing about negative reviews that get me.

* So, if there are any readers who hate my story, _don't post a negative review_. That won't go down good for you or me. If you hate my story, just save the both of us some time and leave. I'm not going to notice if you do so. But if you do want to criticize, consider constructive criticism. If you dislike my story and think that it can be changed, let me know what that change is! If you think that my story can be changed to your liking, let me know what you want to see. I'll leave it at that.

* My last thing, I have a bit of an announcement that I'll make in the ending author's note. So, if you're interested in hearing about that, stick around till the end, will ya? Anyway, I've said everything that I need to say. So, on with the chapter!

 _The Rebel Base, 2047_

We had just witnessed Ben 11 kill one of the Emperor's Knights, and it seemed like he had enjoyed it. I stared in shock. He _laughed_ once he had gotten the blood onto his hands. He was clearly insane!

Then, he looked at us as if he had done nothing. He jumped down from the balcony to greet us.

"You guys okay?" he asked.

I just stared at him in shock.

"What?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." I finally said.

Gwen 10 looked at me.

"But, what about-" she began to speak, but I interrupted.

"Let's just get back to Old Man Ben." I said.

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Sometime Later_

I stood up from my table as I saw Ben and Albedo walk back through the tunnel, with Gwen and Mutated Ben in tow.

"Well? Anything to report?" he asked.

"No, Sir." Gwen said. "For all we know, Beta and Delta are still out there."

"Well, that's just a shame. I'd hate to leave them out there, but we have no idea what we're up against at this time." I said. "We have no idea how many of them there are. Best thing to do right now is just sit here and wait for an opportunity to strike back."

"Old Man Ben, I'd like to hear the rest of the story now." Ben replied.

"Of course, of course. I almost forgot." I said. "Sit down."

 _Three Decades Earlier_

 _Bellwood, 2018_

 _We initially thought that she was sick. Well, in reality she was. But not with something you would have expected. My assumption was that Zombozo had infected her with a virus upon biting her. But that's just my take on it. It could have been something else for all we know._

"Gwen, we need to get you to a doctor." I said, as I helped her back into bed.

"No doctor." Gwen mumbled.

"Gwen, this is serious! You are running a fever, chilled to the bone and your body aches!" I said. "That isn't normal! You need to see a doctor, I insist that you do!"

"I said no! Benjamin Tennyson, I am a big girl and I can take care of myself!" she said, as if to scold me.

I let out a sigh of defeat.

"Okay. But Gwen, I'm worried about you!" I said. "If you won't see a doctor, at least go see Grandpa Max! He always knows what to do!"

Gwen said nothing.

"Gwen, please! For me?" I asked.

She looked at me with irritation.

"Ugh, fine!" she said. "Call Grandpa Max. Tell him I'll be up later today to have myself looked at."

"I'll take you up there myself." I said.

"No." she said.

"Yes." I said.

"No!" she said.

"Gwen!" I exclaimed.

"Fine! I guess there's no point arguing." she said.

"No, there isn't." I said. "You're just wasting your time trying to argue."

 _I took her up to the Rustbucket later in the day to see Grandpa Max. I tried to tell her that I was coming in with her, so I could get an explanation too. But she insisted that she was going in alone and that I was staying in the car. After countless minutes of arguing, she won and I ended up staying in the car._

I ended up falling asleep in the car after half an hour. I was woken up by the sound of the passenger side door slamming shut. I groggily looked at Gwen as she put her seat belt back on.

"Well?" I asked.

"I'm all good to go. I've gotten my diagnosis." she said. "It's nothing serious. I'll be fine in due time."

"Really?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Like _really sure_?"

"Drop it, Benjamin!" Gwen exclaimed with anger.

"Jeez, okay." I said, as I started the car. "Dropped."

 _The following couple days were bad. And I mean bad. Gwen's condition only worsened. In that case, not wanting to get whatever she had, I slept out on the living room couch for the time being. I kept telling her that we needed to get her to a hospital. But she kept insisting that she was fine and it was just a phase of the sickness._

 _Then, a day before it happened, we had a weird sort of moment._

I was sitting in our room with Gwen. As she laid in bed, I sat in a chair next to the bed, holding her hand in mine. Her hands were cold and clammy, and her fever was shooting through the roof. I had put a wet cloth on her forehead, to try and help her cool down.

"Ben?" she asked.

"Yes?" I responded, snapping out of my thoughts.

"Tell me about the first time we kissed." she said.

 _I had no idea why she was asking me about this. I mean, she knew all of the details about it, she called it the happiest moment of her life on several occasions. Or, so I thought._

"You know about that time. You know all of the details." I said. "Why would you need me to tell you?"

"No, I don't. I can't seem to recall any of my happiest memories lately." she said. "I can only recall my sad and miserable memories. Like that period of time where all we did was fight before we got together."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said.

"So, will you tell me?" she asked.

"Of course." I said. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything." Gwen said. "Tell me everything about it."

"Okay." I said, as I cleared my throat. "It was rainy night and we were on a football field. We had just killed Ghostfreak for the first time. I was still in the form of Diamondhead, when the Omnitrix began to time out. I had nowhere to run. It timed out and my identity was revealed to you. At first, you didn't really know it was me. But eventually, you walked up to me and initiated a kiss. We made out in the rain. And we've been together ever since."

Gwen let out a sigh.

"Sounds great." she said.

I looked at her with concern.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" I asked.

"Positive." she said.

 _Later that night, Gwen was really weird. She was interacting with me, as if she were saying goodbye to me. I just didn't know that was pretty much what it was._

I tucked Gwen into bed and put a slightly damp cloth onto her forehead.

"I'll see you in the morning, Gwen." I said, as I went to go flick off the light. "Get some rest."

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Gwen sat up, causing the cloth to fly from her forehead. She hugged herself against me, which surprised me.

"I love you, Ben." she said, in a sort of weird tone.

"I love you too, Gwen." I said, not knowing what else to say.

"I'll be out in the living room just like the last couple nights if you need me." I said, grabbing the cloth and putting it back on her forehead. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay." Gwen said, as she laid back down.

I walked out of the room, leaving the door open but only a crack and walked into the living room, getting ready to go to bed for the night.

 _Now, this next part, I hope you never have to experience it. I hope that some how by the grace of God, that our two different dimensions are not the same in this regard. Because what happens next, caused me even more pain than anything imaginable._

I woke up the next morning, bright and early. I let out a yawn, as I sat up. I sat there for a few minutes, still under the blanket, trying to wake up a little bit more. Eventually, I got up from the couch and decided I should check on Gwen.

I walked towards the door to our room. I opened the door and walked in, to see that Gwen was still asleep. In fact, it looked like she was sleeping peacefully. I sat down in my chair and leaned forward a little bit.

"Gwen?" I whispered.

She didn't respond.

"Gwen?" I asked a little louder.

She still didn't respond.

I stood up.

"Gwen?" I asked much louder, as I put my hand on her exposed forearm.

I drew back my hand in shock. She was cold as ice! I was in shock, and I was having thoughts. But I quickly denied those thoughts.

"Gwen!" I said, as I shook her.

She didn't respond. She didn't move. Not even a little bit. Now I was scared. I felt her neck for a pulse and got nothing. As I began to tear up, I ran from the room.

"Mom! Dad!" I exclaimed. "Help!"

 _It was over. After an hour of trying, after an hour of CPR attempts, we got nothing in return. This was the part that I hope you never have to experience. At eight o'clock that morning, my worst fear had been realized. Gwen had died in her sleep._

 _We were stuck in a bit of a pickle. Obviously, we had to tell her parents. That was a no brainer. Another no brainer would be that Aunt Natalie would blame me. She hated the idea of us getting together. In fact, she almost disowned Gwen when she found out that we were together._

 _We wondered what we should do. I mean, obviously there would be a funeral. Did we want to spend money on a casket? Well, whether or not you agree with our method, we didn't by a casket. Instead, my mom put Gwen into a gown of some kind and we wrapped her up in a light fabric, a sheet I think it was, maybe._

 _We tied up both ends of the makeshift burial fabric. To this day I still don't know why we didn't just buy a casket to put her in. We were all distraught over the situation, especially me and Uncle Frank. In the end, we decided to bury her in my backyard. Aunt Natalie protested the whole time, saying that we should have a normal funeral and bury her in an actual cemetery._

 _But Uncle Frank and I had the common ground. I wanted Gwen to be buried in my backyard. Uncle Frank was fine with it. He was different than Aunt Natalie. He respected my wishes. We would have a small, private funeral at the end of the day. And earlier, before the funeral, of course she had to be buried._

I stabbed my shovel into the dirt. I pulled out yet another pile of dirt and tossed it aside. I took a second's break, to look up at Uncle Frank, as he helped me dig the grave.

"You were right, Uncle Frank." I said.

He looked up at me as he stopped digging.

"What?" he asked.

"You were right. You told me when you found out about Gwen and I, that I couldn't protect her." I said. "And you were right."

"Don't say that." he said, as he went back to digging. "You're not at fault. No one is."

I continued to dig as well.

"But, Uncle Frank, you're not hearing me." I said. "It was my fault. I couldn't protect your daughter. And therefore, now she's dead."

"It had nothing to do with you. Don't fool yourself into thinking her death was your fault. My Gwen knew what she was doing, what she wanted when she got together with you." he said, as he tossed aside another pile of dirt. "She had you to protect her with that thing on your wrist, and even if you weren't around, she could easily protect herself. And even that wasn't enough. It was fate. It was meant to happen and it wouldn't have happened any other way."

"And that's what you believe?" I asked, tossing a dirt pile aside.

"It's what I know." he said, as he dug into the dirt.

We were both silent for a minute or two, as we continued to dig.

"I never wanted to have to bury my daughter." Uncle Frank replied, as he tossed another dirt pile aside. "But even the hardest things in life, like this one, will happen. And even if you don't want to do them, you will have to. It's something you'll never be ready for."

"That's all too true." I said, as we continued to dig.

I kept digging, but all of a sudden had a bit of a flashback to my first encounter with Ghostfreak last year. His words to be before he had his goons hurt Gwen rang fresh in my mind.

 _I bet you all thought that you were going to grow old together. No. That's not how it works. Not now and not ever._

I began to tear up pretty aggressively, as I attempted to dig blurry-eyed.

 _Did Ghostfreak know that this was coming? Did he know that Gwen and I wouldn't be able to grow old together?_

I sniffled, as I wiped my nose on my sleeve as I continued my attempts at digging.

"Just go!" Uncle Frank said. "I can do this myself!"

"No, Uncle Frank. I won't let you bury Gwen all by yourself!" I said.

"Then start actually helping me! I understand that she was your girlfriend, but you're not the only one who's grieving here!" he said. "And you'll have to get over it eventually! Time waits for no man! The world moves on, and we need to move with it, regardless of losses and obstacles in our path."

 _Uncle Frank was right. Time waits for no man. Gwen may have been dead, but the world would not wait for me to cope with my loss. I'd like to say that I got over her death quickly, but that'd be a lie. I pretty much never got over her death. And even when Kai came back into my life, and started showing me affection, I couldn't show any back to her._

 _Not because she had cheated on me in the past. I mean, it had something to do with it, in the beginning, but I quickly moved past that. My point is, that even after three decades, I'm still grieving over her death. After gently putting her body into the dug grave, we covered it up and flattened the dirt on top. We surrounded the grave in an oval of stones._

 _And after that, we fashioned a grave stone out of two small wooden planks tied together. We chiseled her name into the wood and that was that. Later that day, as I said, was her funeral. And of course, Mom thought that I should say a few words. Standing up there, in front of her grave, also in front of all the people that showed up to the closed funeral, I didn't last long._

 _It was Grandpa Max, Aunt Natalie, Uncle Frank, their son Ken, and my parents. Like I said, I didn't last very long before breaking down._

"I, uh, Gwen was very special to me. We were very close. We absolutely adored one another." I said. "I'd never thought I'd see the day that she leaves."

Everyone else looked back at me, with glossy eyes.

"Gwen was an amazing person and I truly thought that I'd be spending the rest of my life with her. But, that wasn't to be. I guess I should be thankful that I got to spend as much time with her as I did, and I am thankful." I said. "She may not be here anymore, but she is in a better place. This weird and horrifying world we live in is a terrifying place, and I'm just happy that she won't suffer from it anymore."

No one said anything.

"I guess it's- I guess- I-" I kept stuttering, and ultimately just stopped myself. "I'm sorry, I can't do this. I can't talk right now."

I walked away from Gwen's grave and went to go sit with the rest of the family.

 _Later That Night_

I sat on the bed in Gwen and I's room. Well, it was now more than likely just a guest room again. I had gotten my pajamas on and was about to get into bed to go to sleep, but I stopped myself as I reached for the covers.

 _It was then that I realized that I had shared this bed with Gwen. Sleeping in it without her just didn't feel right. So, I decided not to sleep in it._

I got up from the bed and left the room. I walked through the dark house until I got to the kitchen. I looked out the back door to the backyard, where we had buried Gwen earlier that day.

I let out a sigh as I opened the sliding glass door, walked outside and shut it behind me. I walked further into the backyard and stopped once I reached Gwen's grave. I fell onto my knees in front of it.

I had trouble trying to figure out what to say. My throat felt dry, and I didn't want to speak. But, I felt like I should say something.

"Gwen, uh, hey." I said, as I looked at the wooden cross we had made, with her name on it. "I don't really know what to say."

I just continued to stare at the cross, as I began to tear up.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you." I finally said.

I put my hands over my eyes and began to cry some more. I laid down beside her grave and began to fall asleep.

 _A few days later was when Kai came back into my life, and not by coincidence. Later, I learned that Mom actually called her up "because she didn't want me to be lonely". You believe that? Don't ask me how Mom had Kai's phone number. To this day I still don't know._

I stood in front of Gwen's grave a few days later. As of late, that's where I had been spending most of my time. I began to hear footsteps behind me and I thought to myself that it must be Mom coming to check on me. The footsteps stopped directly behind me.

"Ben?" a voice asked from behind me.

The world around me stopped. I hadn't heard that voice for two years. It was her. It was the cheater. My head perked up as I turned around to face her. Yeah, it was her. She looked a little different, a few changes after two years, but I could tell that it was her.

"Kai? What the hell are you doing here?!" I asked, my voice full of agitation.

"I-" she tried to speak, but I cut her off.

"Wait, do you actually think that you can come here? In my yard? To talk to me after what you did to me?!" I exclaimed. "If that's what you think, then you can just go to fucking hell!"

She kind of looked hurt by my comment, but didn't say so. In fact, she didn't say anything. I turned back around to face Gwen's grave.

"Why are you here anyway? Can't you fucking see that I'm fucking grieving?!" I asked with anger.

"Ben, you never used this much profanity before." Kai remarked.

"Whatever." I said. "You come here to rub the fact that I don't have a girlfriend anymore into my face?"

"No." Kai said. "I'd never do that. I actually-"

"But yet, you'd fucking cheat on me?!" I exclaimed. "You're messed up, Kai!"

"I came here, because your Mom called me." Kai said.

I perked up a little again. That was not believable. I turned around to face her.

"My mom called you? You expect me to believe that?" I asked.

"No." she said. "I expect you to be mean and cruel to me for what I did to you in the past. And so far, you haven't disappointed."

I let out an angry sigh.

"Okay, so if my mom "called you", why did she?" I asked with anger.

"She told me everything, about how you started dating your cousin." Kai said. "She told me about how you guys were dating for almost two years. And then she got sick and-"

"Stop." I said. "Don't say it."

"-she died." Kai finished speaking.

I angrily looked at her.

"Just leave. You obviously can't listen to me." I said. "It's not like I want you here anyway."

"When did you turn into a such a dick?" she asked, as I turned back around.

"When you dumped me for another guy and after Gwen died." I said. "Speaking of which, how is the other guy? Is he better than I was?"

"I wouldn't know. He dumped me for another girl." Kai said.

"Hmm. Karma's a bitch." I said. "And the bitch deserved it."

Kai said nothing.

"Why did you really come here for, Kai?" I asked. "Are you seeking forgiveness? Because you won't get it."

"It'd be a start." Kai said. "Your mom mentioned that you'd be lonely after Gwen's death."

I whirled around again.

"Don't you dare say her name! And don't tell me what I'll be in her absence!" I snarled in anger. "You didn't know her!"

She ignored my comment.

"Whether I knew her or not, you know I'm right." she said. "Your mom knows you'll be lonely, I know you'll be lonely. Your mom said that you'd need a friend in time. And I think I can be that friend. Gaining your trust again would be a start to getting to be friends. And your forgiveness, too."

 _She wasn't wrong. J.T. and Cash stopped hanging out with me a long time ago, and Kevin was the same. It took him a while to stop hanging out with me, but he eventually did. I had no friends now except for Gw- well, just Albedo. But she didn't know that._

"I don't friends!" I snapped. "I need Gwen! I long for her! And... she's not here."

Kai said nothing.

"I... never got to say goodbye." I said, as I turned to look at her, as tears came to my eyes. "And to me, that means that she's not really gone. She's... just not here right now."

"She must have been amazing for you to miss that badly." Kai said.

"Oh, she was such an amazing person. She was so beautiful. I think her emerald eyes and her hair were my favorite features of hers." I said. "She had such an amazing personality. It was almost impossible to get on her bad side. I just wish I could have spent more time with her."

"I'm sorry." Kai said. "I hurt for you, Ben. If you can believe it, I can be empathetic. I do feel empathy. I can feel your pain."

I nodded, as I put my hand over my eyes. I began to cry again. As I cried, after a few seconds, I felt Kai hug me. I immediately pushed her away from me.

"Don't touch me!" I exclaimed, as I did so.

She just stared at me, looking hurt again. But as last time, she didn't address that I had hurt her feelings. I pointed at her.

"After what you did to me, you don't deserve to hug me. You don't even deserve to talk to me." I said. "You're lucky that I'm even giving you that privilege!"

I turned back around to face Gwen's grave.

"Why don't you just leave? It'd be better that way." I said.

Kai said nothing at first.

"I'm back in your life for the better. I am going to be the friend that your mom wants me to be. She's right, now that I've seen what you're dealing with." she said. "I don't expect to get on your good side anytime soon, but I do think that I deserve some chances. Not an infinite number of chances mind you, but some chances nonetheless."

I said nothing. Kai said nothing as well. Eventually, I heard her steps depart from behind me. As I looked at Gwen's grave, I contemplated my mood. I let out a sigh, as I figured out what to do next. Maybe she did deserve a chance or two. Just maybe.

 _I saw her the next day. She was right. She was here to stay and she wasn't going anywhere any time soon._

I was sitting out at Gwen's grave as usual, with my knees drawn up to my chest. I heard footsteps behind me again. I spotted Kai sit down next to me just out of the corner of my eye.

"Are you doing okay today?" she asked.

I just let out a slight grunt of discomfort in response to her sitting down next to me.

"What, do you live within walking distance of here?" I asked.

"I live a couple of neighborhoods over." Kai said.

I didn't respond, but I kept staring at Gwen's grave and occasionally off into space.

"What was she like?" Kai asked.

I snapped out of my little trance.

"What?" I asked, as I looked at her with a confused expression.

"I want to know more about Gwen. I know you mentioned some things about her yesterday." Kai said. "I know you probably don't want to tell me, but I'd appreciate it."

I considered it. I finally sighed.

"She was really nice. Especially when you didn't get on her bad side. She was really pretty. Just staring into her emerald eyes almost entranced me." I said. "Her favorite thing to do was to spend time with me. Most of the time, we'd be gaming or watching Red vs. Blue, a web series."

Kai was quiet. She let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry. I really am." she finally said. "I know you refuse to believe that, but I really am sorry."

I didn't say anything about it.

"Yeah. She was such an amazing person." I said. "It's just a shame that she didn't get to live longer."

"How'd she die?" she asked.

"If my mom actually did call you, and if she did tell you everything," I said. "then you already know. She got sick. We think that she died in her sleep."

I didn't even really know why I was discussing this with Kai. I mean, maybe she wasn't wrong. Maybe she did deserve a chance or two. She definitely acted differently compared to how she acted when we were dating a couple years ago.

We just sat there in silence for a while, not sure what to do or what to say. It was after a few minutes that Kai did something that I wasn't expecting. While I was still staring at Gwen's grave, she put her hand on my cheek, turned my head and leaned in to kiss me!

My eyes went wide with shock. We hadn't kissed since one of the dates we had before we broke up. Why in the hell was she kissing me? I pulled away before the kiss could last more than five seconds.

"I'm sorry, but what the hell was that?" I asked.

She just looked at me, with I guess, a look of shame in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." she said. "But I think I still have feelings for you. And besides, would Gwen want you to live your life alone?"

My jaw dropped.

"You don't know anything about what she would wanted for me!" I said.

She looked down.

"I know. I never got to meet her." she said. "Could you at least give me another chance?"

I looked down at the ground, frustrated.

"Kai... you cheated on me. And you want a second chance. That's something I don't know if I can give you or not." I said. "I'm not over Gwen. It will take a long time for me to get over Gwen. And even if I was over Gwen, I wouldn't go back to you."

I looked at her with anger and sadness.

"You hurt me, Kai." I said. "We can't be together and pretend that it never happened. I just can't be with you. I can't go through that again."

Kai was looking down at the ground.

"I was stupid for thinking this would work." she said. "You're right, I did hurt you. Who am I kidding? Why did I expect this to work?"

"You're not stupid, Kai." I said. "You just thought you knew how things would work out, and they didn't work out that way. It's okay. Don't blame yourself."

She said nothing. I eventually stood up.

"It's best for you to just go back home and for me to go inside. It's best for both of us if we just forget this happened." I said, as I walked towards my back door. "Be my friend if you want to, but don't expect anything more. Even if I did want to be with you, I'm not over Gwen. I may not ever get over Gwen. I'm sorry."

I walked through my back door and closed it, leaving her behind on the other side.

 _It didn't take me long to change my mind. Kai really was acting as if she'd changed. So, I considered if everything she had said was truthful. And I couldn't figure it out or not. Either she was really good at acting, or she was being genuine. So that night, I pondered the question that had been on my mind for a while: What would Gwen want for me?_

 _Well, she wouldn't want me to live my life alone. She wouldn't want me to grow old without at least trying to maintain a relationship with someone, wouldn't she? What would she expect me to do? What would she want me to do? Even if she's dead, would she expect me to act as if she were the only girl for me?_

 _Even if that were the case, I would hold a miserable life. Living my life alone wouldn't be fun. But can Kai actually fill the void that Gwen left behind when she went? No, not even close. But is it worth trying?_

I let out a sigh, as I shut off the light and got into bed.

 _Gwen wouldn't want to see me like this. So, I won't be like this._

I had just come to a decision. Tomorrow was a big day, and I was going to need all the sleep that I could get.

 _The next day was a big day. I sat out in the backyard at Gwen's grave and waited for Kai to show up. And she did, at her usual time._

"Hey." she said, as she sat down next to me.

"Hey." I said, in a slightly monotone voice.

We sat in silence after that for a while. I was trying to muster up the courage to speak. Finally, I looked at her and began doing so.

"Hey look, I've been thinking-"

She turned her head to look at me.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Look, I've been a total dick to you since you came back." I said. "And our history shouldn't determine our future interactions. So, I'm sorry."

"No, it's cool. I get it Ben. I hurt you." she said. "I didn't expect you to be nice to me at all. It's fine."

"No, Kai. It's not fine. I've been a total dick to you and that's not a good thing." I said. "I know we've had a rough past, but like I said, that has nothing to do with my situation. With what I want."

"Ben, what are you trying to say?" Kai asked with a confused look.

I looked down at my feet. It was now or never. I looked back up at her.

"I've had a bit of a change of heart." I said.

She just stared at me with surprise.

"What?" she asked.

"I understand what you want from me, and I don't know that I'll ever be willing to deliver. I mean, Gwen has barely been in the ground for a week and the thought of getting with you makes me think that I'm cheating on her." I said. "However, you were right. Gwen wouldn't want me to live my life alone. So, if you are actually sorry and if you are actually willing to give our relationship another try, then I suppose I could give it a shot. Not right away necessarily, but over time."

I looked down at the ground again.

"You can refuse." I said. "I won't mind. I'm just glad I got this off of my chest."

I felt her hand on top of mine. I looked over at her to see her smiling.

"That's good enough for me." she said.

I looked back at her.

"If you think that you can't be with me, then that's cool. No one said that we have to have a mutually beneficial romantic relationship." she said.

I laughed.

"Is that what you call it?" I asked.

She grinned a toothy grin.

"You don't have to be alone, even if I'm just a friend." Kai said. "In return, you can just be my friend and it'll be all good. It's fine, really. Take whatever this is slowly and I'll do the same. I don't expect to fill the shoes that Gwen left behind when she passed right away. I don't really expect I can at all, really."

We said nothing else to one another after that. We just sat there in silence. After a while, I took her hand in mine and she returned the favor. And after a longer amount of time, I briefly smiled.

 _Ben_

 _The Rebel Base, 2047_

"And that's it." Old Man Ben said as he looked at me. "From start to finish."

I stared at Old Man Ben.

"Really?" I asked. "From start to finish? I still have questions. Like, when did you marry her? Where did having a kid come from? Why do you and Old Man Albedo seem so distant?"

"He-" Gwen 10 began to speak, but Old Man Ben put his hand up and she stopped speaking.

"Stop. All of you are lucky you got to hear the story again, especially you hearing it for the _first time_." he said, point at Albedo. "I'll fill you in on a few of the gaps later on. But that's not important right now."

"Not important? But I have a right to know!" I said.

"Yes, you do kid." Old Man Ben said. "But it's just not important right now. We're at war, people."

 _Author's Note:_

* If you think that I teared up a little writing this chapter, than you're damn right. Anyway, that's it for the chapter!

* I'm sorry for going into depth about the whole hateful/negative reviews thing, but I just had to get it off of my chest, it was making me pretty angry.

* Does anyone think that the Ben 11 character is going to end up going bad? Could anyone see it happening?

* Does everyone approve how Old Man Ben told his story? Is there anything that you guys are not okay with? If you are not okay with Gwen's death in this timeline, that's cool, but I'm not changing it. It, along with other changes..., serves the basis for some huge character development from Old Man Ben.

* And I will confirm it now that Old Man Ben's past has nothing to do with the mainstream Ben's story. So, Gwen dying in that universe? Not gonna happen. I wouldn't kill off Gwen in the main story. So, you can rest assured that Gwen and Ben are most likely going to grow old together.

* There may be a few characters that I'd be willing to kill off, but now's not the time for that...

* I'm going to start doing "In The Next Chapter" kind of things at the end of every chapter. I thought I mentioned a while back that I didn't want to reveal so much in the beginning author's note and I won't be doing that a whole lot anymore. The entries at the end of each chapter will be short, that way not too much is revealed. The entries may also sometimes be cryptic!

* Anyway, about the announcement that I had, I had a community driven kind of thing in mind. And that is a QNA sort of thing. And I don't mean that you guys can ask me anything, because it's essentially a QNA. The only things that would be open for asking about is my taste in comics, movies and TV, or video games. You can also ask about my opinion on something related to the three subjects. And, if you do ask a question that I'd want to answer, I'll answer it in an author's note, also giving the asker a shout out.

* _Don't ask me about politics!_ If you ask me about politics, I will not respond in anyway. I feel like that goes without saying, but I guess you never know these days. Anyway, I don't know how long this QNA thing will last, or if it will last at all, it's just something I thought about and that I'd like to try out. You can leave your questions in a review, or you can PM me with a question. If your question is seen as "worthy" it will be answered in the closing author's note of the next chapter for any of my Ben 10 stories.

* Anyway, that's about it. I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and, bye!

Next Chapter: Old Man Ben and Co. begin making plans to take down Emperor Vilgax. Old Man Ben comes face to face with an old adversary.


	58. Chapter 57: Omniverse: Part 9

Chapter 57: Omniverse: Part Nine

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to chapter fifty-seven!

* I'm not revealing anything big in the beginning author's note. I'll just re-iterate that in this chapter, preparations for the war against Vilgax will start being made. And, Old Man Ben will be running into an old adversary.

* Anyway, that being said, it's time to get into this chapter!

 _Ben_

 _The Rebel Base, 2047_

We all made use of our respective Omnitrixes to clear out the rubble and shit keeping us from getting out of the Mess Hall. It was done in no time. Surprisingly, there was no soldiers from the Order of the Emperor waiting for us up above. It seemed that they had all gone home.

We had to be cautious. We got lucky. Emo Ben, Punk Rock Ben, Mini-Ben, Old Man Albedo and Teen Ben were all on the other side. We quickly made our plans. Punk Rock Ben, Old Man Albedo, Mini-Ben and Teen Ben were tasked with gathering up all of our available weapons, rations and ammo. From what I could understand, it was go time.

Emo Ben, Gwen 10, Ben 11 and my Albedo were tasked in assisting Cooper in crafting the charges we'd be using to destroy Vilgax's tower. As for Old Man Ben and I? I was to accompany him to his lab to assist him in crafting the antidote for Albedo, that would serve as a barrier to the virus for some time.

We walked down the hallway together. I looked at Old Man Ben.

"Can I ask you a few more questions?" I asked.

"Go ahead." he said.

"So, why are you and Old Man Albedo so distant with each other?" I asked.

"He left two weeks after Gwen died." he said.

"What?" I asked.

He looked down as he walked.

"He went to train full time with S.E.C.T." he said. "I was okay with it. I had Kai back in my life and we were hanging out a lot."

"How long was he gone?" I asked.

"A decade. He was gone for ten years." Old Man Ben said. "He trained vigorously to fight in the Human-Vilgaxian War."

"Human-Vilgaxian War?" I asked. "What's that?"

"Vilgax changed. He, along with all of the able-bodied men in his race waged war on many planets within the galaxy." Old Man Ben said. "S.E.C.T. had to intervene. 2018, the year that Gwen died was the year the war started. I would have fought too, but my "contract" with S.E.C.T. had expired. And I didn't feel like going through all that shit again. The war ended in 2028. And Albedo came home to retire. Four years later, on the anniversary of our victory, Vilgax was out for blood, for the vengeance of his people."

He turned to me.

"That's why he dropped the bomb." he said.

"Why did Vilgax declare war?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Old Man Ben replied as he shrugged. "Some say that he was hungry for power and wanted more territory."

"What happened after?" I asked.

"He was exiled from our solar system." Old Man Ben replied. "He was never supposed to return to Earth."

"I'll ask more about that later." I asked. "How did you fall back in love with Kai?"

"We hung out on the regular after I accepted her as my friend. She would hit on me, hug me and some times kiss me without warning on some occasions." he said. "I would never return her feelings though. She was okay with it. Eventually, I had to get over Gwen. But, I never really did. So, a full year or so after she died, returning her feelings for some time, I finally acted on those feelings, and _I_ was the one to kiss her first this time. After that, we became a couple again."

"And you obviously married her? When did that happen?" I asked.

"We married in 2032, only shortly before Vilgax dropped his bombs all across the globe." Old Man Ben said. "We've been happily married for fifteen years, and two and a half a years ago, Kenny came along."

"He didn't only attack Bellwood?" I asked.

Old Man Ben shook his head.

"He bombed the hell out of Earth. New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Brazil, Berlin, London, Cairo, Moscow. I'm sure I missed a few locations." he said. "He wanted to cripple as many of the world's governments as he could before he moved in on Bellwood."

"That's just... Wow. Damn." I said.

Old Man Ben nodded.

"What do you want to know next?" he asked.

"What about Kenny? He was born during war times?" I asked.

He nodded.

"About three years ago, maybe three and a half years ago, Kai came to me and told me that she wanted to have a baby." he said, as he looked at me. "Initially, I refused. But, eventually I gave in. Who am I to deny what my wife wants? And, it was the first time we'd done it."

My eyebrows lifted a bit.

"Wait, the first time you'd done it?" I asked. "You mean the first time that you and her-"

He interrupted me.

"Nope. I shouldn't have even of said that part." he said. "Fuck no, kid. There's no way I'm talking to you about that. I haven't even know if your parents sat you down to have the talk yet, or if your school has a class."

I was confused.

"The talk? Class?" I asked. "You mean the "S word", right? You mean sex, right?"

I cringed as I said it, my face turning red.

"Kid, we may technically be the same person and I may be aged, but I'm not talking to you about that. Don't say it." he said.

"But that's what it is? Why not call it what it is?" I asked.

"Kid, stop it. There's no way you're mature enough to even talk about or do _those kinds of things_." he said. "There's no way that you and your Gwen have-"

"Nope, we haven't yet." I said.

"Kid, we're done talking about this. I shouldn't have even subtly mentioned it." Old Man Ben said. "I don't want to hear anything about it."

"Okay, fine. Sorry." I said.

We continued to walk to his lab in silence. After that talk went south pretty quick, I didn't feel like saying anything else. Eventually, we made it to his lab and he began getting to work.

"Okay, as I said before, if I can craft a serum for Albedo, it won't cure him." Old Man Ben said. "It'll only buy him time by keeping the virus from doing it's work for some time."

"How long would he have again?" I asked.

"Without the serum, he wouldn't last another full two days." Old Man Ben replied. "With the serum, it would give him almost four days."

"How long will this war last?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Old Man Ben replied. "It could last weeks. But realistically, I think it could be wrapped up in only a few days. We can beat them. Vilgax has no idea what's about to happen. I think it goes without saying that he is fucked."

"What's the plan?" I asked.

"We use the charges Cooper is crafting to destroy structural weaknesses in Vilgax's Tower." Old Man Ben said. "You and the rest of the Bens will fight through Vilgax's defenses, while I "speak" with the man himself."

"I imagine you won't be "speaking" with him?" I asked.

"You know me well, kid." he said, as he grinned.

He turned to me and leaned forward. He had a dark look in his eyes.

"I'm going to fucking kill that son of a bitch for everything he's done." he said with anger.

He turned back to the table.

"Now what materials do I have that were left over from Albedo's injection?" he asked himself.

"Look, I agree that Vilgax has done some terrible things." I said. "But, do you have to kill him?"

"What, do you expect me to be picking strawberries with Vilgax after all this is over?" he asked.

"I'm just trying to say that you don't have to kill every villain you come across." I said. "There are still good people in your world. You're one of them. There are many good people in my world. Gwen and I are a couple of them."

He turned in his chair to look at me.

"I appreciate your moral compass." Old Man Ben said. "I was just like you. _A long time ago._ "

I was in silence for a minute.

"There are people and aliens that'd I'd kill without a second's hesitation." he said, as he turned to look at me again. "Vilgax, Clancy, Ulysses Enoch, _Zombozo_."

"Who's Clancy?" I asked. "Who's Ulysses Enoch?"

"Ulysses Enoch is Mr. Enoch's nephew." Old Man Ben said. "He took over the Forever Knights after his Uncle Enoch was murdered in prison."

"Enoch was killed in prison?!" I exclaimed. "Who did it?!"

He looked at me.

"You really don't know?" he asked.

"It's only been a week or less since the event." I said. "Of course I don't know."

"Kevin did it. Just like he always wanted to." Old Man Ben said.

"Kevin did it?" I asked. "I should have known. Where is he now?"

"He leads the Rogue Squadron." Old Man Ben replied.

"The Rogue Squadron? What's that?" I asked.

"There a group of five outcasts. Four of them are from different dimensions." Old Man Ben said. "Kevin leads them."

"Why were they outcast?" I asked. "And tell me about one of them."

"They were not like us. They were outcasts." he said simply. "They were misfits. I didn't want to outcast Kevin, but I had to. He was questioning my role as leader. And one of the outcasts is a female version of you."

"A female version of me? Are you serious?" I asked. "And I thought you and Kevin stopped hanging out a long time ago?"

"We did. We reunited in college. We started hanging out again." he said. "He's been with me since the beginning of this shit show. They were exiled no less than a few days before you arrived."

"So, Gwen 10 knows them?" I asked.

"Yes." Old Man Ben said.

"Why haven't I heard of them, then?" I asked.

"I don't like to talk about them. They are not like us." he said.

"Fair enough. What about Clancy?" I asked.

"The homeless guy who tried to assault Gwen in the park?" Old Man Ben asked. "You remember him?"

My heart skipped a beat when I heard about him.

"Yeah, you remember him." he said. "Fuck yeah, you do. I can see it in your eyes."

I narrowed my eyes.

"I should have killed him when I had the chance." I finally said. "That's the only time I'll admit that one of my foes needs to die."

Old Man Ben just smiled a weird smile.

"Don't worry, kid. I'm sure you'll see him again pretty soon." he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise." he said, with the smile still on his face.

I just looked at him with an angry look in my eyes.

"You're a dick, you know that?" I asked.

Old Man Ben began to laugh.

"Trust me kid, I know I'm a dick!" he said, as he chuckled. "I'm talking to the seventeen year old version of me! I was a dick then and I'm a dick now!"

I smirked as Old Man Ben leaned in from his chair to look at me.

"Fuck you, kid." he said. "Seriously, fuck you."

I just chuckled to myself. Just then, the speaker came on in the lab. The voice of Gwen 10 came on over the speaker.

"Sir, we need another person to assist Cooper in crafting the charges. Can you send anyone?" she asked.

"Why do you need another person? Don't you have enough people?" Old Man Ben asked.

"Negative, Sir. Ben 11 slipped away before we got here." she said. "I have no idea where he went."

Old Man Ben cursed with annoyance.

"Fine! I'll send the new guy!" he said. "You had to bother me about it, so you get to come get him!"

Gwen 10 was silent on the other end for a minute.

"Fine." she said at last, before the intercom shut off.

It was obvious to me that I was the new guy still. I turned to look at Old Man Ben.

"What are they going to have me do?" I asked nervously.

"Don't do that." he said.

"Don't do what?" I asked.

"Don't act scared. You're a fucking badass, kid." he said. "You acting scared, it's a huge fucking disappointment."

I thought about it.

"You're right! I am badass!" I exclaimed. "I killed a ghost! It doesn't get anymore badass than that!"

"Wrong, kid. Gwen killed a ghost." he said. "You get the assist on that kill."

"Damn it, you're right!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that?"

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

Gwen 10 arrived shortly after that.

"You sure you don't need help crafting that formula?" I asked.

"Do you possess the intelligence to do so?" Old Man Ben asked.

"Y-" I began to speak, but he cut me off.

"Then leave!" he exclaimed.

"Fine! So long, you prick!" I said.

"Right back at you, prick!" Old Man Ben said, as he flipped me the bird with his free hand.

"You do realize that you just called yourself a prick, right?" Gwen 10 asked.

"Silence, woman!" I said in a joking manner.

"Just saying." she said, as she smirked.

We walked through the halls of the bunker in together, in silence for a few minutes.

"You know what really scares me?" I finally asked.

"What?" she asked, as she turned to look at me.

"The fact that my Gwen is going to die in about a year and a half." I said, as I looked at her, tears coming to my eyes. "And that there's not a damn thing I can do to protect her!"

"Hey, we don't know that!" Gwen 10 said, as I fell to the ground.

"Yes, we do! Old Man Ben practically confirmed it himself!" I exclaimed.

Just then, she slapped me on the cheek. I looked up at her with shock.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"That's not the Ben Tennyson that I know!" she said. "The Ben Tennyson that I know wouldn't accept that his Gwen will die! What did Old Man Ben tell you about the dimensions?"

I sniffled as I wiped my nose on my sleeve.

"That this future is just a possible future in a sea of possible futures for me." I said.

"There you go!" she said. "This isn't your future! Don't you get it? We all came from fractured dimensions, so we are not all the same! The only similarity with all of us, is that we're all Ben! Well, my Ben is dead, but that's besides the point."

"What is your point, then?" I asked.

"My point is that you shouldn't be so sure that you're Gwen is going to wind up dead, because she won't!" she said. "This isn't your dimension! It's just a fracture of your dimension! I can't be sure of what differences your future will hold from his, but there will be differences!"

"You're sure?" I asked.

"I'm positive." Gwen 10 said. "Now get up, before I have to pull you up myself! We have work that needs to be done!"

I did as she said and got up. Done crying, we moved on.

 _Five Minutes Later_

We walked into a lab area, that looked like it had been combined with a workshop. There were several tables in the room, and Emo Ben and Albedo were working at one of the tables, as well as chatting, seemingly getting along great.

"Wow. Who's lab is this?" I asked.

Before Gwen 10 could answer, a voice answered for her.

"It's my lab." a male voice said.

I turned, to see a tall man approaching. He was cleanly shaven, with short blonde hair and what I would describe as electric blue eyes. It was clear to me that this was Cooper.

"Well, I'll be." he said. "Another Ben, another one."

"Yep! Another one!" I said, saying the last two words as if I were DJ Khaled.

Gwen 10 visibly face palmed beside me.

"You're in my lab, aren't you?" he asked. "Go pick a table. Gwen 10 will assist you in crafting the charges."

"Alright, alright." I said. "I'm going."

Cooper looked at me, before turning around and walked back over to his side of the lab and got to work. I just watched him work in awe. There were pieces of technology being lifted from the table and moving on their own! I felt Gwen 10 loop her arm through mine.

"Okay, let's go." she said, as she forced me over to an empty table.

"But, why are there pieces of tech floating around over there?" I asked. "Explain!"

She sat me down at the table.

"It was S.E.C.T. that did that to him." Gwen 10 said, as she sat down across from me. "During the Human-Vilgaxian War that Old Man Ben told us about. S.E.C.T. thought that he could be a great asset, so they injected some kind of micro-technology into his brain. Now, he can move almost any piece of tech with his mind."

"Micro-technology? How does that work?" I asked.

"We'll never know. The documents regarding his surgeries and injections were classified by S.E.C.T." Gwen 10 said. "And those documents were never declassified before S.E.C.T. fell."

"Damn." I said, as I looked at all of the materials on the table.

There were a few pieces of thin fabric on the table, along with some wires and other stuff I didn't recognize.

"So, what are we making here?" I asked. "C4?"

"Something like that." Gwen 10 replied. "Hope you don't have butterfingers."

"So do I." I replied.

Over the next five minutes, she instructed me on how to make the charges. About five minutes later, and I was making them on my own just fine.

"There you go!" Gwen said. "See, you're getting it!"

"Give me a break." I heard Albedo say.

I looked over to him, to see that he was giving me the evil eye.

"Hey, you have something to say?" I asked.

"Just ignore him, Ben." Gwen 10 said.

"Shh, shh, shh!" I said, as I put my hand out to where she sat.

"Do you have something to say?!" I exclaimed at Albedo.

He just reached for a piece of the fabric on their table and crumbled it up. Next, he threw it at me. I caught it in my hand from the air, before it hit me.

"Is that the best you got?!" I exclaimed, as I threw it back. "You're an embarrassment!"

I hit Albedo as he looked at me with anger. I just started laughing. Eventually, Albedo's gaze lightened up and he began to laugh as well.

"Hey! You throw stuff in my lab and you leave!" Cooper exclaimed with obvious anger. "Or you work! What's it gonna be?!"

I looked down.

"Sorry, Sir. Albedo started it." I said. "It won't-"

"I don't give a fuck who started it!" he exclaimed, interrupting me. "Now get back to work!"

I turned back to the table, kind of hurt. I looked up at Gwen 10 as I got back to work.

"What's with him?" I quietly asked.

"It's his marriage." Gwen 10 said, as I looked back down. "His wife, Julie, is a bit of a handful these days."

"Cooper's married to Julie?" I asked with shock, as I looked back up at her.

"Yeah." she said.

We worked in silence for a few minutes after that. And a few minutes later, an older lady of Asian decent wheeled into the room in a wheelchair.

"And, how is everything?" she asked.

Before anyone could respond, Cooper turned around.

"Julie, you know you can't be in here!" he said. "You need to leave, right now!"

"That's Julie?" I asked Gwen 10.

She nodded.

"What happened to her?" I asked with worry.

"She used to be one of our best shots. And then, a couple years ago, she took a laser blast to the spine while in battle." she said. "She's paralyzed from the waist down. Confined to a wheel chair."

"Oh. Damn." I said, as I looked down.

"Oh come on, Cooper!" Julie continued, as she wheeled up to him. "I want to help."

"You can help me by staying out of my hair!" Cooper said.

"Oh, come on. You know that you secretly want me to stay. And I know it to." Julie whispered.

It was odd. She whispered, and yet I heard it anyway. I looked at Gwen 10, to she that she was letting out a sigh. As Cooper mumbled something and eventually kissed Julie, I tapped Gwen 10 on the hand.

"Hey." I said.

"What?" she asked, as she looked up at me.

"Did you hear Julie whisper that?" I asked her in a low voice.

She mouthed "yes" to me, before getting back to work. This, to me at least, confirmed that the Omnitrix enhanced my hearing. And, I was guessing that it also enhanced Gwen 10's hearing, as well as all of the other Ben's.

"Okay. You can stay, but stay over here." Cooper said. "I'll let you know if there is something you can help with."

Gwen 10 and I continued to work. I think I had constructed two or three charges, before the question came to mind. So, I asked Gwen 10.

"How are these things going to work?" I asked. "We're not going to blow them while we're occupying the Tower, are we?"

"Yes, we are." she said. "We're going to strategically blow half of the charges to make the Tower unstable while we are inside of it. Once Vilgax has fallen, the rest of the charges will be blown, causing it to topple."

"How does that work?" I asked.

Gwen 10 shrugged.

"I'm not the bomb expert, Cooper is." she said. "I'd tell you to ask him, but he's not a very big fan of you."

"Yeah, I noticed." I said, as I got back to work.

After a few more minutes of work, I heard someone else enter the room. I looked up, to see that Old Man Ben had entered.

"How are things in here?" he said, as he walked forward. "Julie."

"Hello, Ben." Julie said.

"Things are fine. The new kid's okay. Annoying, but okay." Cooper said, as he turned to shake hands with Old Man Ben.

"Good." Old Man Ben said, before stepping away from Cooper and approaching Gwen 10 and I.

Once he got to us, he spoke in a hushed voice.

"The serum is ready. It only needs a couple hours to mature." he said. "Then we can inject Albedo with it."

"Okay. Thanks." I said, as I nodded at him with gratitude.

Just then _another_ person entered the room, this time running in.

"Old Man Ben, Sir!" the person exclaimed as they ran in. "We have a problem!"

 _It was Ben 11. Where had he been?_

"Where have you been?!" Old Man Ben exclaimed with anger, as he ran over to Ben 11 in a fit of anger.

"It doesn't matter, Sir! I have an update!" he said. "There's more security outside Vilgax's Tower!"

"Wait, wait, wait." Gwen 10 said, as she got up from the table and walked over to them. "How do you know?"

I got up with her, as Ben 11 explained the problem.

"I went out before I came here, Sir!" he said. "I wanted to see what I could see at the Tower! And there's more-"

"You went outside to the Downtown Ruins?! To the Tower?!" Old Man Ben exclaimed as he picked him up by the neck. "Are you crazy?!"

"Sir, please! They have a new head of security outside of the Tower!" Ben 11 said.

"Who?! Who is so important, that you'd think I care enough to forget how much trouble you are in?!" Old Man Ben yelled.

"The new head of security, it's - it's Zombozo, Sir." he said.

Just then, I saw it in Old Man Ben's eyes. The look in his eyes. They were glowing. He was pissed from just hearing that name. Old Man Ben let out a shout of anger, as he threw Ben 11 to the floor, causing him to land on his behind.

"Ow! What the hell?!" he exclaimed.

"You are in so much trouble!" Old Man Ben exclaimed, as he walked towards the door. "Get Albedo. Tell him that I want to see him!"

"What was that all about?" Gwen 10 asked.

"Apparently a new change in security." I said.

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at Ben 11.

"What's wrong?" Gwen 10 asked.

"Nothing." I said, as Ben 11 looked at me for a split second, before getting up and leaving the room. "It's just, I don't trust his story. It makes no sense."

 _Old Man Ben_

"I'm going to kill him." I whispered.

"Ben-" Albedo tried to speak, but I interrupted him.

"I'm going to kill him!" I yelled, as I stood up and knocked all of the papers and glass containers off of the table. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch for what he did to her!"

"Now Ben, calm down." Albedo said. "I agree with you one hundred percent. That fucker needs to die."

"Like hell you agree with me! You didn't have to suffer like I did!" I exclaimed, as I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You left after she died. You never had a girlfriend! You don't get to feel the pain that I did!"

"Benjamin, back off!" Albedo exclaimed, as he pushed me away. "Listen to me, damn it! You're right! I never got to have a girlfriend and I don't know the pain you're going through. But, if you go at this alone, you're a dead man! You'll be killed before you even get close!"

"Okay, then what do you suggest?" I asked, still angry.

"Well, let me think." Albedo said.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, before he spoke again.

"Okay, I got something!" he said. "Do you remember how I was able to go to school with you and Gwen?"

"Yeah. We dyed your hair blonde." I said. "And Cooper and I worked on special contacts that made your eyes appear in a green color. Why?"

"Then, that's it then!" Albedo said. "We do the same thing we did when it came to me wanting to go to school! Only this time, we need brown hair dye, instead of blonde!"

I thought about for a minute or two. It took me a bit to realize what Albedo was going for. I was pretty sure that he wanted to play the decoy, while I got close enough to Zombozo to take him out. Our thought process was almost alike. It was crazy that I hadn't thought of that.

"Albedo, you're a God damn genius!" I exclaimed.

"I know I am dude. After the war, I was a master strategist!" he said.

I laughed as he said that. We had a plan.

 _Ben_

I walked into the barracks, to see everyone else there. The room had been cleared a little. In the middle of the room, Old Man Ben and an identical Old Man Ben were sitting in chairs.

"The beard is going to be harder to dye and it will take longer, but it'll work." Kai said, as I noticed her working on one of the Old Man Bens. "I still don't know why you two want to do this."

"Doll, you just worry about finishing this up." Old Man Ben said. "This _will_ work. It has to."

I walked around to the front so I could see what what was going on. One of the Bens had a completely gray beard I just now noticed, while one of them had a brown beard with a few gray hairs.

"What the heck is going on here?" I asked, respecting Old Man's Ben wishes of not cursing in front of Mini-Ben.

"The formation of a plan." Gwen 10 said next to me. "I don't know what the plan is, but Old Man Ben says it'll work."

"Have faith." the other Old Man Ben replied.

It was the one that had a gray beard and he had a slightly different voice.

"Wait, Old Man Albedo?" I asked.

"Yep, yep, yep!" he said. "Present, kid!"

I was beyond confused at this point. I decided just to stand and watch the rest of whatever was going on.

 _Ben 11_

"What do you mean, I'm not going with you?!" I exclaimed.

"Kid, you screwed up!" Old Man Ben exclaimed. "You shouldn't have gone out there. And now, your job is to stay here and help defend this place!"

"Why me?!" I screamed at him.

"Because you messed up, damn it!" he exclaimed. "My wife and son will be here, along with Cooper, Julie, the kid, Punk Rocker and Teen Ben! You need to help protect this place! If the bunker fall's, we fall with it!"

"Alright, you're right." I said. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"Wait, just like that?" Old Man Ben asked. "You're sorry and won't argue anymore?"

"No, Sir." I said. "You're right."

"Well, alright then." he said, as he walked towards the door. "We may be gone all night. We're going to the Tower and eliminating the entire security force outside of it. And we're killing the monster who killed my girlfriend. You sure you can hold down the fort the whole night?"

"Yes, Sir!" I exclaimed.

"Atta, boy!" he exclaimed. "You got this kid! I have faith in you! You'll do fine!"

I watched as he left. Once he was gone, a smug look grew on my face.

"Good luck, Sir." I said.

 _Ben_

 _Vilgax's Tower, Downtown Bellwood_

Our group consisted of Gwen 10, Emo Ben and I. Well, Old Man Ben and Old Man Albedo were also here, by they both looked identical now and neither of them were in sight. We snuck up to a low wall. We all got our weapons ready and looked over to wall, to see now security of any kind in sight.

"What the hell?" I asked. "There's no one around!"

"We can see that, genius!" Emo Ben said.

"Be nice, Delta!" Gwen 10 hissed.

"Just because he's one of us doesn't mean that I have to be nice to him, Gamma!" Emo Ben said.

"I don't see anything." I whispered, as I looked around, ignoring their banter. "What is going on?"

They stopped arguing and they watched the area in the front of the Tower with me. Just then, I saw an aged Zombozo step out onto a balcony made up of some kind of metal, about ten feet off of the ground. The balcony had an iron railing surrounding it.

He wiped his mouth, which had some blood on lips. He was wearing a dusty, grey pinstripe suit, with grey leather gloves and grey dress shoes. He also wore a white shirt under his suit coat with a black tie.

"Home boy must have just bitten someone." I whispered, as I looked at him through the scope of my Laser Rifle.

"Who you think he bit?" Gwen 10 whispered.

"I don't know. It's not important right now." I whispered back. "Where is Old Man Ben?"

"There!" Emo Ben pointed at the area below the balcony, where Old Man Ben was walking into the area.

"Well hello, Tennyson! What are you doing here tonight?" he asked, us just barely being able to hear him.

"I'm going to kill you for what you did to my girl!" Old Man Ben exclaimed.

"Why does he sound different?" I whispered.

No one said anything.

"That was three decades ago, bro!" Zombozo exclaimed. "I can't believe you're still salty over that!"

"Fuck you, I loved her!" Old Man Ben exclaimed. "You have no idea the pain you caused me!"

"Well, that's all right!" Zombozo exclaimed as he jumped over the rail and down to Old Man Ben. "I imagine you'll be with her again soon!"

"This is where you die." Old Man Ben replied.

"Do tell, do tell." Zombozo said, as the fight began.

Old Man Ben got the first strike, nailing Zombozo in the stomach. Then Zombozo struck back, by punching Old Man Ben in the jaw, causing him to stumble. Old Man Ben attacked next, by headbutting Zombozo. I was surprised that Old Man Ben wasn't using his Laser Pistol that he had strapped to the side of his thigh.

Zombozo countered by clawing Old Man Ben's arm, which was not exposed. The fight went on exactly like that for the next five or so minutes, them alternatively attacking one another. Eventually, Old Man Ben got the upper-hand. Zombozo fell to the ground, apparently beaten and it looked like Old Man Ben had won.

It looked like Zombozo was down for the count. As Old Man Ben was talking to him, he turned around to look around, letting his guard down. It all happened so fast. Old Man Ben had let his guard down and he was open to attack. Zombozo jumped up and bit Old Man Ben on the neck. After sinking his teeth into his neck, Zombozo pulled away, ripping a chunk of meat from Old Man Ben's neck.

"No!" Gwen 10 and I screamed in unison, as Old Man Ben grunted with pain, as he fell to the ground, putting pressure on his neck, and as blood gushed from the wound.

It was all over. Zombozo had bitten Old Man Ben. Our leader was dead. Our position had been revealed and we were most likely next.

"What was this?!" Zombozo exclaimed. "Some act of revenge?!"

And then, the unexpected happened. Out of nowhere, an identical Old Man Ben dropped behind Zombozo.

"No. This is." he said.

"Oh, shit!" Zombozo exclaimed.

Zombozo tried to react, but it was too late. In one fluid motion, the Old Man Ben behind him snapped Zombozo's neck.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed!

* What did everyone think of Old Man Ben's explanation of past events? And what about the banter between Ben Prime and Old Man Ben? Interactions between Ben Prime and Gwen 10?

* Is Ben Prime right to be suspicious of Ben 11? Or is it nothing? What do you guys think of the revelation that the Julie from this universe is paralyzed? Do you get what Old Man Ben and Old Man Albedo's plan was? Speaking of which, how about that ending? Old Man Ben showed Zombozo no mercy and snapped his neck!

* I think that's about it for me. I released a new Cold Winter's Night chapter earlier today, any one who's interested in reading that! I'm going to go though, so have a great day and, bye.

Next Chapter: In the aftermath of Zombozo's death, Old Man Albedo has been bitten. Old Man Ben finds out there's a mole in the Rebel Alliance. Heartbreaking discoveries are made at the Rebel Base.


	59. Chapter 58: Omniverse: Part 10

Chapter 58: Omniverse: Part Ten

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Fifty Eight!

* So in the last chapter, Old Man Albedo had been bitten. And I'm pretty sure the readers know what that means. And Zombozo has been killed. I hate to throw another emotional chapter your guys's way, but this will be, at times, a pretty emotional arc.

* So, this chapter may be another long chapter. But that's all I'm going to say, so the chapter begins here!

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Vilgax's Tower, Downtown Bellwood, 2047_

I stared down at Zombozo's dead body. His lifeless eyes looked back up at me.

 _Finally. Revenge._

I looked down at Albedo, who laid on the ground next to Zombozo's body, holding his wound, with a small puddle of blood already being made below him.

"Fuck." was all he said in a hoarse voice, staring off into space.

I just stared down at him, tears forming in my eyes. I was beginning to understand the gravity of the situation. My brother had been bitten. And he was going to die, just like Gwen had three decades ago.

"You guys can come out now." I finally choked out.

I looked up to see Gwen 10, Emo Ben and Ben walking out from a low wall.

"What happened?" Ben asked. "Which one was it?"

"It's Albedo." I said, as I wiped my eyes. "He's been bitten."

"Bitten?" Gwen 10 asked.

I nodded, covering my eyes.

"Well, what happens now?" Ben asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, taking my hand off from over my eyes to look at him. "He's going to die. There's nothing we can do about it."

"Nothing we can do about it?!" Ben exclaimed. "That's not acceptable! There's got a be a way to save him! Isn't there a cure for Zombozo's virus?!"

I shook my head.

"No, there's no known cure!" I exclaimed angrily as I looked at him. "I would need a sample of Zombozo's blood to create a cure, but that doesn't matter now! Albedo has already been bitten! Gwen succumbed to the virus in only three and a half days or so! I don't know if Albedo will last any longer than that!"

"Well, can't you at least try?" Ben asked.

"No, I can't! I don't have any lab equipment of any kind to take a sample of his blood! And if his blood isn't useless now, it will be by morning!" I exclaimed. "And that's probably how long it'll take us to carry Albedo back to base!"

"It's okay, Ben." Albedo said in a hoarse voice. "No sweat. No hard feelings. It's no big deal."

"No big deal?! You were bitten!" I said.

"It was going to happen eventually." Albedo whispered.

"There is _actually_ something we can do." Gwen 10 said, as she tossed me her backpack. "Old Man Ben, there are bandages and gauze pads in there. That way, he might be able to make it back with us."

She walked up to me.

"We don't leave him behind." she whispered to me. "We take him with us. He doesn't need to die out here all alone. Don't you think he'd like to spend his last moments with the people he loves?"

"You're right." I said, as I opened her backpack and searched for the medical supplies. "We can't leave him here."

In five minutes or so, I had wrapped up Albedo's neck and by some miracle from God, had stopped the bleeding. But that wouldn't change his fate. He was a dead man walking.

"Can you walk?" I asked, as I helped him up.

"I think so." he said. "Thanks, Ben."

"You're my brother, Albedo." I said. "You think I'm actually going to leave you here to die? Fuck you."

I put my arm around Albedo to help him walk.

"Delta, Gamma, Epsilon, lead the way!" I exclaimed. "Take us home!"

"Yes, Sir!" we all said in unison, earning a laugh out of each other.

We should have known that the coming situation would be nowhere near funny.

 _The Rebel Base_

 _Dawn_

It took us several hours to get back to the Base. We had to take the long way around, as Albedo could not use ladders, he was weak after losing that much blood. It was a miracle he hadn't bled out.

We evaded patrols, maneuvered through ruined buildings and around wrecked cars. When we reached the Rebel Base, I stopped in shock and just stared, panicking as I did.

The metal gates enclosing the Bunker's courtyard had been smashed in with an armored vehicle. The vehicle had the insignias of the Emperor's Order on them. The inside of the courtyard had been tattered. The Wall of the Lost was up in flames, the flowers were dead. The escape hatch had been ripped from it's hinges.

And the Bunker's steel doors had been blown open, and I saw nothing but flames on the inside.

"No." I said, as my eyes stung with tears. "No, no, no!"

I dropped Albedo and began running towards the open doors of the Bunker.

"Old Man Ben, wait!" Ben and Gwen 10 called in unison, but I kept running.

I ran through the fire, only taking minor damage.

"Kai!" I screamed, as tears rolled down my cheeks. "Kenny!"

I didn't hear an answer. I ran down the hallway, along the way seeing that all of the doors had been kicked open. I eventually made it to the stairwell and ran down two flights of stairs. I ran through the doorway to the next hallway and ran until I got to the Barracks. I ran through the Barracks, to see that they were in disarray.

"Kai!" I cried out in desperation, continuing to run as fast as I could. "Kenny!"

I still heard no response to my cries. I ran, heading towards the Command Center. I finally made it. The Command Center lay in disarray. Most of the technology was destroyed. There were a few small fires, but nothing big. Only a few lights worked and one or two of them flicked on and off every ten seconds or so.

"Kai!" I exclaimed as I ran through the open doors. "Kenny!"

I had almost given up hope, until I heard the voice and the whining.

"We're over here, Ben." I heard Kai call out in a weak voice. "Shh, it's okay, Kenny. It's just your father. It's all over."

"Oh, thank God!" I said, as I ran over to them, where they were at on a cleaner side of the Command Center.

Once I got to Kai, I practically crushed her in a bear hug.

"I was so worried about you guys!" I said, as I tried not to cry.

"We're okay." Kai said in a weak voice, as she pulled away.

"Are you okay?" I asked, noting her appearance. "You sound weak. And you're sweating."

"I've had to do a lot of running tonight." Kai said. "I promise, I'm fine."

I looked down at Kenny, whom Kai had nestled into medium sized crate with a blanket wrapped around him. I took his hand and he began to coo, toying with my fingers.

"What happened here?" I asked. "Were you guys attacked? Where is everybody?"

"Yes." Kai said. "We were attacked by the Emperor's Order."

"Well, where's Ben 11? Why didn't he protect you?" I asked. "Was he not enough?"

"He didn't protect any of us. He was the one who initiated the attack." Kai said.

I looked up at Kai, to see that she had a sad look in her eyes. I stood up to face her.

"What?" I asked. "He was supposed to protect everyone! He was with us, a part of the Rebel Alliance!"

Kai shook her head.

"No, Ben. He wasn't on our side. He was on the side of the Emperor's Order. As soon as you left, they attacked, with him leading the charge." she said. "He told us he had been feeding them information for months. It's how they knew when to strike. He ran off yesterday to tell them to get Zombozo ready. He knew if Zombozo were out in the open, you would go to kill him, leaving us vulnerable for an attack."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I let out a yell of fury as I punched the thing nearest to me, a destroyed computer console.

"Damn it!" I exclaimed with anger. "I trusted him! He was one of us! I trusted him and he stabbed us all in the back!"

I heard footsteps behind us. I whirled around, drawing my Laser Pistol, ready to fire at any threats. I lowered my weapon once I saw it was just Ben, helping Albedo walk into the room, along with Gwen 10 and Emo Ben.

"What happened here?" Ben asked, as he sat Albedo down against a computer console.

I let out a sigh, as I looked at the ground.

"We were attacked." I said, as I looked up at them. "By the Emperor's Order."

"But, I thought Ben 11 was here to protect everybody? Why didn't he-" Ben spoke, but I interrupted him.

"Ben 11 was never with us. He was a mole, an informant for the Emperor's Order." I said. "He led an attack as soon as we left last night."

"Damn it! I knew that I shouldn't have trusted him!" he exclaimed. "I knew something was off with him and I was right!"

"None of us should have trusted him." I said. "Where are the others? Cooper? Julie? The kid? The teen? Albedo? Punk Rocker?"

"Cooper and Julie are fine. They saw Cooper as a valuable asset for when they next raid the Bunker. They wouldn't hurt a woman in a wheelchair. Young Albedo stayed hidden just you had instructed him to." she said, looking up at me with a sad look in her eyes. "But the kid, the teen and Punk Rocker were all taken. I have no idea where the Emperor's Order took them."

I let out a sigh. I began to loose my footing a bit, after standing for so long. Luckily, Kai caught me, she she caught me by the arm and I had placed my hand on her forehead for support.

"Sorry. I feet are killing me after helping Albedo walk all night." I said.

"It's okay." Kai said. "You don't have to apologize."

That's when it hit me. Kai's forehead was a little warm. I took my hand off of her forehead and stood up straight again.

"Kai, your forehead is a bit warm." I said with suspicion in my voice.

"It's hot in here." she replied. "I'm fine, I promise."

"Are you sure?" I asked with worry.

She looked past me. I turned around and followed her gaze, to see that she was looking at Albedo.

"What happened to you?" she finally asked.

"I was bitten. By Zombozo." Albedo said, with a sad sigh.

"You, too?" Kai asked.

I whirled around to face her after she said that. I almost asked what she said, but I didn't.

"You, too?" I asked with worry. "What does that mean?!"

She looked at me with a sad look in her eyes. She closed her eyes and sighed, as she pulled up the sleeve on her left arm, revealing a bandage. She slowly pulled it off, hissing in pain. She dropped the bandage on the floor.

I stared as my worst fear was realized, once again. I saw the bite mark on her forearm, the red, irritated flesh. It felt like my heart stopped as I came to the realization. Kai had been bitten. I dropped to my knees as I gasped, tears coming to my eyes.

"Zombozo was here, too." Kai said. "And I was bitten. Only me. He only bit me. He told me that the Emperor wanted everything done that could possibly break you."

I looked up at her as tears rolled down my cheeks.

"We- We can amputate. We can-" I spoke, but Kai interrupted me.

"No, Ben. I was bitten several hours ago. The virus has already began working." she said, as she looked down at me. "I'm not stupid. I know what happened to Gwen. I'm going to die."

The tears kept coming. I put my hand over my eyes and began to cry softly.

"I'm sorry." Kai said.

I took my hand off from over my eyes to look up at her.

"Don't." I said. "Don't s-"

Kai pulled me to my feet and hugged me. I dug my face into her shoulder and began to cry. She held me as I cried. Eventually, I had to let go. When I did, I turned around to look at everyone. Albedo had his head in his hands. Ben had his hand on Gwen 10's shoulder, and Emo Ben just looked at the ground.

I just put my hand back over my eyes and continued to silently sob.

 _One Hour Later_

One hour had passed. In that time, we had gotten Kai to lay down in a bed in the Infirmary, to try to make her as comfortable as possible while the virus slowly killed her. It sounds horrible, I know, but just killing her wasn't right.

It would have been inhumane. Albedo was also in the Infirmary. Ben's Albedo was with me, and was ready for the injection.

"Hold still." I said, as Ben held him down in the chair.

I injected him with the serum.

"Okay, that's it. The serum will stop the virus in it's tracks." I said. "It's not the cure though. It will only buy you time. I can't tell you when you will turn into a full Loboan. It's only a matter of time. That's all I'll say."

"Thanks." Albedo said.

"Don't mention it." I said as I placed the syringe down.

I let out a sigh, as I walked away to let Ben and Albedo talk. Eventually, after they were done talking, Ben came over to me.

"I'm leaving." I said, as I wiped my tears away. "I need to go kill as many people as I can to get to Vilgax."

It surprised me when Ben slugged me in the jaw, sending me to the ground. I looked up at him with confusion.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"Bullshit!" Ben exclaimed. "You aren't going anywhere! Your wife is laying in there, dying and you want to leave?! Are you kidding me?! You get in there and sit with her so she can spend her final moments with you!"

I looked up at him and finally sighed. I left the Lab and headed towards the Infirmary. Once I got there, I opened the door and walked in, seeing Kai asleep in the cot that we had laid her down on. I closed the door behind me and walked to to chair beside her cot. We had her on life support, but that wouldn't help anything.

It was more of a point to keep track of her heart rate. I sat in my chair, holding her hand as she slept. Eventually she woke up. We just stared at each other, deciding what to say. Finally, I spoke.

"You were bit." I said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just didn't want you to worry about me. You have enough things to worry about." she said in a weak voice.

"That doesn't matter! My wife is lying here, dying in front of me." I said. "I don't know if I can go on after this."

"Don't." Kai said. "Get your shit together, Benjamin Tennyson. When I'm gone, Little Kenny will be left behind and you will have to care for him. Not necessarily on your own, but the important thing is, I won't be here to care for him with you."

I put my hand over my eyes as I began to tear up again. After a few seconds, I took my hand off from over my eyes to look at her.

"I'm sorry. I should have been here." I said. "I wasn't here to protect you and I should have been."

"Don't say that." Kai said. "You did what you thought was right."

I just looked down, as I sighed, tears wanting to come, but they didn't. I looked back up at her, unsure of what to say.

"I couldn't save you." I whispered.

"What gave you that idea? That you needed to protect me?" she asked.

"That's not what I meant." I said. "After all the things I've done, after all the sacrifices I've had to make, I thought I knew stuff. And I didn't. And because of the things I thought I knew, you're sitting here dying. And I couldn't protect you."

"So I'm dying. Big whoop. I'm not immortal." Kai said. "You need to learn that people are going to die. I'm going to die, Albedo's going to die, Cooper, Julie, Ben, Gwen 10. You're never going to be ready for it. So, quit acting like you will be ready for it. You won't ever see it coming."

I just looked down, wanting to cry some more.

"People will die. This is war, and war has casualties." Kai said. "People died before this, people are going to die during this and people will die after. You can't avoid it. However, I'm not sitting in the ruins of Bellwood slowly dying of sickness. I'm going to die in a comfortable spot, warm in this cot. _That's what you did_."

I said nothing.

"I'm going to miss our little pep talks." Kai said, as she smiled weakly at me.

We were in silence for a few minutes. Eventually, she spoke.

"Ben, send the new guy in here." she said.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Just do it." Kai said. "I need to have a word with him. Alone."

I sighed, but reluctantly got up to go get him.

 _Ben_

 _Five Minutes Later_

I walked into the Infirmary and closed the door behind me. I sat down in the chair beside Kai's cot.

"You wanted to see me, Ma'am?" I asked.

"Don't call me Ma'am." Kai said. "It makes me sound like an old woman. Yes, I wanted to see you."

"What about?" I asked. "And before you say anything, I just want to say how sorry I am for how mean I'm going to be-"

Kai hushed me.

"Don't kid, you're not going to ever be mean to me, because your Gwen is never going to die." she said. "You found your Gwen. The thing you have to do now is get a grip on her and never let her go. Do you think you can do that?"

I looked at her.

"Yeah, I think I can." I said.

"She's your special woman, Ben." Kai said, with a weak smile. "You never let her go."

I nodded.

"Okay." I said.

"There's one more thing." Kai said in a weak voice. "You must find the letter that Gwen wrote to Ben before she died. I know that my urges won't stop him from killing. But maybe him reading the letter will. You _must_ find it and make sure he reads it."

I was confused.

"The letter that Gwen wrote to Old Man Ben?" I asked. "Kai, what are you talking about?"

She didn't speak anymore. She closed her eyes.

"Kai!" I said with worry.

She didn't answer me. She hadn't flatlined, so she must have just passed out. I let out a sigh, as I got up to leave the room.

 _Old Man Ben_

 _One Hour Later_

"I don't know to say it, but you meant the world to me. I've only ever been close to one other person than you and she died." I said. "I just-"

"Stop it. Sounds like you're writing me a birthday card." Kai said in a weak voice. "If you mean it, then I already know it. There is nothing left that can be said about us. That's what was so special about our relationship."

Kai had gotten even worse. Her fever was shooting through the roof and she now required a damp cloth on her forehead.

"I can't do this anymore. I can't keep going after this." I said, as I teared up again. "I'm tired of fighting. I'm weak."

I got up to leave, but Kai grabbed my hand and forced me to sit back down.

"Stop it. You're one of the strongest people that I know. Once I'm gone, you're going to beat this world. I can already see it." Kai said in weak voice, as she smiled up at me. "I can see you, years after the war, an aged old man with a graying beard, sitting outside in a well kept garden, out front a newly built house. Picket fences along the yards as far as the eye can see. And your rocking in the chair as you hold your newborn grandchild."

I just looked at her, a lone tear running down my cheek.

"Promise me that you'll make it real." she said.

"I promise." I said, as I gripped her hand tightly. "I'll make it all real."

"You can't quit. After I'm gone, people will still need you." Kai said. "Even after the war is over, people will still look at you for instructions. You can't just quit. Otherwise, want's the point? You built something out of this world. If you quit, it'll just fall."

I let out a sigh.

"You became the woman I never expected you to become. You actually filled in the shoes that Gwen left behind when she died." I said, looking at her." I said. "Against all odds, and I'd never thought I'd admit this, but you became the replacement that I needed. You showed me that I could love another other than her. I can't thank you enough for that."

She smiled, nodding.

"I won't be your only wife. I know that for a fact. After I'm gone and after this war is over, you'll find someone new." she said. "You'll never be alone. Whether it's Julie if she get's widowed or a survivor. You won't be without a wife forever. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Once I'm gone, you'll find the chance to love someone else."

I shook my head.

"I don't know if I can." I said, as I began to tear up again.

She frowned.

"You can, and you will!" she exclaimed, as she angrily sat up.

She eventually laid back down.

"You'll find someone else. You'll have to if you want to remain happy." she said in a very weak voice.

I said nothing.

"I love you." Kai said.

I squeezed her hand tightly.

"I love _you_." I said, as tears rolled down my cheeks.

She gratefully smiled up at me.

"That's the first time you've ever said those three words to me, Ben." she whispered. "Thank you."

"I mean it." I said.

"I know you do." she whispered.

 _A Couple Hours Later_

I heard a knock at the door. When I didn't answer, the door opened. I turned my head to see Cooper walking in.

"Well?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Sir, Albedo just passed away." he said.

I closed my eyes and tried not to cry. I put my hand over my eyes, as I began to cry anyway.

"How much longer does she have?" he asked.

"Not long." I said. "Her heart rate is getting worse. I just don't understand. When Gwen was bit, she lasted almost four days. And Kai will die later tonight. And Albedo is already dead. It makes me wonder, does the severity of the infection depend on the person infected?"

"When it happens, what will we do with the bodies?" Cooper asked.

I looked up at him, taking my hand off from over my eyes.

"What to do mean "what will we do with the bodies?" I asked. "We'll bury them with Gwen. I take Ben, the new kid with me to help bury them. We bury our dead, Cooper."

Kai was burning up. She needed something to help cool her down, or her last few hours were going to be nothing short of miserable. Only problem was, I didn't know if I had anything effective. Finally, I stood up and sighed.

"What are you doing?" Cooper asked as I moved towards the door. "Where are you going?"

I turned to look at him.

"I'm going to lab to pick something up." I said, as I looked at Kai's sleeping form, and then back at Cooper. "I'm going to put her to sleep. I don't want her to suffer like Gwen had to."

Cooper looked shocked, but eventually his face reverted back to it's calm expression.

"If you think that's what needs to be done..." Cooper said.

I nodded, before leaving the Infirmary.

 _Sometime After Noon_

 _Ben's Childhood Home_

I stabbed my shovel into the dirt and began to dig. Ben helped me dig the grave. It had worked. I put Kai to sleep so she wouldn't suffer. I just sighed, as I continued to dig. I was done crying.

"Can we stop for a minute?" I asked.

Ben stopped digging with me and took a breath. He looked at me with a questioning look.

"I'm okay. I have to be okay. For Kenny, for the Alliance." I said.

"What happens after this?" Ben asked, disregarding what I said.

"It doesn't matter." I said. "I have nothing left to live for."

"You're wrong! That's bullshit!" he exclaimed. "You have a baby boy. _That's_ what you have to live for."

I looked down at the grave we were digging. I began digging again.

"I'm leaving after we're done here." I said. "I need to get close to Vilgax."

"No! You can't just leave! We need you here!" I said. "Not only does Kenny need you, we need you! The Rebel Alliance needs you!"

I shook my head.

"No, they don't! I was wrong all along, Ben!" I said. "They _don't_ need me. I realized it when we talked for so long yesterday. No. They don't need me. What they need is _you_."

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for another chapter! I hope you all enjoyed!

* Be honest in reviews, did anyone see Kai's death coming? I didn't exactly want to kill her off, but it's going to cause for some much needed character development. What did you think of Old Man Ben and Kai's goodbye scene? Was it tear-jerking?

* The thing about Old Man Ben had never once told Kai he loved her until she was on her deathbed, it has meaning. He never got over Gwen's death, so he didn't think he would ever love anyone else other than her. But he's finally saying the three words to Kai because he has come to love her. And once she's gone, he'll realize he's nothing without her.

* But yeah, Kai and Old Man Albedo are both now dead. What do you think of the conversation that Old Man Ben and Ben Prime had at the end there? Do you think that Old Man Ben will keep his promise that he made to Kai?

* And about that letter that Kai spoke to Ben Prime, that Old Man Ben's Gwen wrote to him before she died, if he finds it, should he read it before giving it to Old Man Ben? Yes, he has a right to know just as much as Old Man Ben does! Or no, it has nothing to do with him! What do you guys think?

* That's all I got, so I'm going to go though. So have a great day and, bye.

Next Chapter: In the wake of Kai and Old Man Albedo's death, Ben takes charge of the Rebel Alliance in Old Man Ben's absence. Old Man Ben goes on a quest to kill as many as the Emperor's people in order to get Vilgax's attention.


	60. Chapter 59: Omniverse: Part 11

Chapter 59: Omniverse: Part Eleven

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Fifty Nine!

* There are about nine or ten parts left in Omniverse. It may be less, but at this point, I can't really say. I don't think I'll be discussing things that will happen in the current chapter anymore, I've gotten a few reviews complaining about how I do this.

* Anyway, with that being said, the chapter begins!

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Ben's Childhood Home_

I looked at Kai's freshly covered grave, while down on the ground on one knee. Ben stood a little bit away's behind me. I sighed once again, as I grabbed Kai's personal weapon, which had been strapped to my thigh.

Her personal weapon was a modified Laser Pistol, with a scope and custom grip. I looked down at it, her initials embroidered in gold on the side of the weapon. After contemplating whether or not I should keep it, I finally decided to hang the weapon on one of the ends of the wooden cross we made to mark her grave.

I stood up after doing so. I turned around and walked away from the graves and towards Ben. I stopped once I reached him.

"Well?" he asked.

"I'm out of here." I said. "I need to leave and get Vilgax's attention."

He looked angry after I said that.

"No!" he exclaimed. "You have a son that just lost his mother! The last thing you need to do is leave! You need to stay here! We need you!"

"We've been over this! The Rebel Alliance doesn't need me!" I said. "They need you. You can be the leader that I can't be anymore. You have to do it."

He looked down for a few seconds, before looking back up. He nodded at me. I smiled, satisfied.

 _Ben_

 _Ten Minutes Later_

I was standing in the bedroom that used to belong to Old Man Ben and Gwen. I had finally found the letter that Kai had spoke of. She had not been delirious. I found it underneath the mattress. How Old Man Ben had never found it, I would never know. I had teared up a little as I read the letter.

 _Is this what Gwen really wanted for Old Man Ben?_

I sighed, as I folded the letter back up and put it back into the envelope. I walked back out into the hallway and eventually walked back outside to the front yard, where I found Old Man Ben.

"Old Man Ben?" I asked.

He looked up at me.

"What?" he asked.

I waved the letter into his field of view.

"Kai told me that Gwen left a letter for you before she passed away." I said. "I didn't believe her, but here it is. I've already read it, but you need t-"

He began walking up to me, pretty quickly.

"You read it?!" he exclaimed, taking it from my hand with force. "You had no right! She wasn't your girlfriend!"

"I don't care! I was curious!" I exclaimed. "Can you blame me for that?!"

He didn't answer. He just walked back into the house, leaving me alone. After a minute or two, I realized something. I looked to the sidewalks and saw the entire population of the Rebel Alliance's Bunker walking toward's the house. Minus, the ones that were taken, of course. Gwen 10 was in front, with a carrying harness strapped to her chest, carrying Little Kenny.

Everyone filed into the yard and either just stood around talking, or sat down in the dead grass. Gwen 10 walked up to me and I saw her eyes were red from crying.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We decided to abandon the Bunker. The Emperor's Order knows exactly where we're at." she said. "We couldn't afford to stay there."

I nodded in understanding.

"Why are your eyes red?" I asked. "You been crying?"

She nodded.

"We've lost so much. Why haven't you been crying?" she asked.

I shrugged as I smirked.

"What can I say?" I said. "I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining!"

She smirked back at me.

"Idiot..." she said. "Did you seriously just quote Raindrops Are Falling On My Head?"

I shrugged again. I heard Old Man Ben come back outside. I turned around, to see that he had put on a dark brown leather jacket. I didn't see the letter in his hand anymore. He walked up to me.

"There's an old box of my clothes from my youth in what used to be my bedroom if you need a change of clothes." he said, before walking towards the street.

"Old Man Ben, where are you going?" Gwen 10 asked. "Your son needs you!"

"I'm going after Vilgax." he said. "Take care of my son. I'm sorry."

Gwen 10 and the rest of them just watched in shock as he left. She turned to me.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"He's appointed me to the leader of the Rebel Alliance." I said. "He insisted that you guys need me, not him."

She just looked at me.

"He's going insane." she sighed. "He's going to lose himself after everything that's happened."

I nodded.

"I know." I said. "So, what's with you carrying Kenny?"

"I volunteered." she said. "I volunteered to carry him. It just felt right."

I shrugged.

"Okay." I said. "You know what, I'll be right back."

I walked away before she could say anything else.

 _Five Minutes Later_

I walked back outside into the front yard, now wearing khaki shorts and a long-sleeved, black plaid shirt, with the sleeves rolled up. Gwen 10 eyed me, raising an eyebrow.

"What's with the change of clothes?" she asked.

"I just got promoted to leader." I said. "I ought to look the part."

She smirked.

"I wouldn't say you look more the part," she said. "but you do look kinda nice. Nice change of pace."

"Um, thanks?" I asked.

"That reminds me, since you're the new leader, you need a new second in-command." she said. "Before Old Man Ben resigned, Old Man Albedo was his second in-command. So, who's it gonna be?"

"Easy. You're my second in-command." I said.

She looked surprised.

"What?" Albedo asked, walking up to me. "I'm your brother, man! Why am I not your second in-command?!"

"Because you're infected with a virus that makes you really aggressive. I can't trust you right now." I said. "And besides, you may only have a few more days."

He looked at me with anger for a few seconds.

"Fuck you, Ben!" he said, before walking away.

"Hey, not in front of the baby!" Gwen 10 said, giving him a scolding look.

"Go to hell, bitch!" he exclaimed, before leaving us alone.

I watched him go, with my jaw dropped.

"Albedo..." I said. "What am I going to do with you?"

"What has gotten into him?" Gwen 10 asked.

I shrugged.

"It's like I said." I replied. "He's infected with a virus that makes him more aggressive than usual."

"Oh." she said.

"Um, I need to have a talk with you." I said. "Can you get someone to watch Kenny and come with me into the house, so we can talk?"

"Sure." she said. "Be right in."

I walked into the house and went to the basement, and waited for Gwen 10. Eventually, she walked downstairs and when she saw me, sat down across from me.

"Okay, what's up?" she asked.

I stared at the floor, not sure of what to say. Finally, I spoke.

"I, uh, have a confession to make." I said.

"Okay..." Gwen 10 replied, with a confused gaze.

I let out a sigh.

"Okay, here goes." I said, looking up at her. "I'm in love with Gwen."

She face palmed.

"That's what you had me come down here so you could tell me?" she asked in confusion. "I get this. I already know this."

"No, no, no, you don't get this. You may think you get it, but you don't." I said.

"Okay, then tell me what I'm missing!" she said, with an impatient tone.

"I'm not just in love with her, I love _love_ her!" I said, looking up at her once again. "I want to spend the rest of my life with her, I want to marry her one day, I want to have children with her!"

Gwen 10 just stared at me.

"I love her!" I exclaimed, getting teary eyed. "She's my soul mate, there's no doubting it to me! And when our parents find out, I know that they will think that it's just a phase! But no, it's not a phase! I will never think about breaking up with Gwen! It will never happen, because I love Gwen!"

She looked down.

"Oh." she said, before looking back up at me. "Why are you telling me this?"

I looked down, before shrugging.

"I never told Gwen this. I guess my time away from her made me consider my relationship with her to be special." I said. "And I could die here, before the war is over. And I will never have told her this."

Gwen 10 said nothing as I continued staring back at the floor.

"Hey." she finally said, moving closer to me and putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Wha-?" I spoke, as I looked up at her.

"We're going to end this war. You're not going to die." she said. "You're going to make it out of this alive, you're going to go home to Gwen and you are going to tell her everything that you just told me. You got me?"

I stared at her for a few seconds before nodding.

"Thanks, Gwen 10." I said.

"No problem." she said. "And, why do you call me that?"

"Old Man Ben calls you it, too." I said. "It makes sense to me because I started out with ten aliens with the Omnitrix. And I imagine that you did, too. And, it helps me tell you apart from my Gwen."

"Okay. I can understand that." she said, as she stood up, helping me up along the way. "Come on, you're a leader now. You need to act like one."

"Okay." I said, as I smiled a little.

We walked together up the stairs and back outside together. We were greeted by the rest of Bens and the other inhabitants of the Bunker.

"Sir! Ready for your orders!" one of them said.

 _Sir? That's a warm welcome._

"Don't call me "Sir." I'm too young and don't hold the experience." I said.

Gwen 10 ignored my request. She moved in front of me and looked at me.

"Well, Sir, you were just asked a question and I'm curious." she said. "So, what are our orders?"

I thought about it.

 _We're living out in the open. We have no defenses. And we're living in a roofless house._

"We're not going anywhere." I said. "We are going to stay here and build up our defenses."

"And how do you expect us to do that?" Emo Ben asked in confusion.

After a few seconds of thinking, I figured it out.

"We have a whole woods-worth of trees past the backyard." I said. "We'll cut them down and use the logs and limbs to make a wall around the house. Any extra wood that we don't need, we'll use it to repair the roof and any weak walls inside of the house."

"How do you expect us to cut down the trees?" Albedo asked, as he stepped up with the rest of us. "There may still be tools in the backyard shed, but we don't have enough tools for all of us!"

I began to think once again. There had to be a way around this. And there was.

"Everyone with an Omnitrix will use Diamondhead to cut down the trees." I said. "Diamondhead can turn his arms into blades. He may be able to form tools with his arms as well. Cooper and Julie will look after Kenny while we work."

They all glanced at each other, questioning my assumptions. Eventually, they all nodded at each other, agreeing with what I had said.

"Once we get all of the wood we'll need, we'll use Diamondhead once again." I said. "We may be albe to use him to dig trenches in the front yard, to provide a foundation for the wall."

No one said a word, or moved a muscle this time.

"Well, it looks live we've been given our orders." Gwen 10 said to them. "Let's get to it people."

Everyone dispersed after that. I heard multiple Omnitrixes activate. I was doing it. I was leading these people. Slowly but surely, I would do it. Gwen 10 looked at me.

"I hope you know what you're doing." she said. "I hope that Old Man Ben didn't make a mistake in appointing you to our leader."

I was shocked that she would even say that.

"He didn't make a mistake. And I didn't make a mistake in making you my second in-command." I said. "You know a lot about what's going on. Possibly more than I do."

"Then why did he choose you over me?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"Maybe he just trusts me more than he does you." I said. "I'm the closest to being the same version of him than any of the other Bens here."

"It's not too late to make _me_ the leader." Gwen 10 said, as she smirked.

I smirked back at her.

"Yeah, that's _not_ going to happen." I said. "I'm not stepping down. He made me the leader and I can and _will_ keep all of you alive."

The smirk remained on her face.

"Eh, had to try." she said. "Let's go. We have work to do."

 _One Hour Later_

After one hour had passed, we had cut down three trees and had gotten about eleven or twelve logs all together. Everyone's version of Diamondhead looked pretty much the same.

All except for Gwen 10's Diamondhead form. Her form was thinner, more slender. She had slender curves. The female Diamondhead's slender curves almost made me feel attracted to her.

 _And that was just weird. Nor was it right._

As she cut another section of log, she caught me glancing at her. I couldn't tell what her expression was.

"What?" she asked.

My eyes widened and I looked away almost immediately.

"Nothing!" I exclaimed, as I went back to cutting up the tree I had been working on.

I heard her begin to snicker as I went back to work.

 _What the hell is going on with me?_

I sighed, as I continued to work.

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Some Hours Later_

After a few hours of the same shit, stabbing and killing Emperor Vilgax's soldiers, I finally found the one I was looking for. I found the one that had a walkie talkie, a way to speak with Vilgax. All I needed to do now was kill him and take the walkie.

I got my knife ready and moved out from the bushes, towards the patrol, who was moving slowly, with his back turned to me. I crept closer to him. Before I could get to him, I stepped on a piece of glass. It was crushed against the asphalt beneath me. He whirled around and pointed his weapon at me.

He wore the same tunic that the other soldiers and patrols wore.

"W-Who are you?" he asked.

I didn't answer as I crept closer to him, my knife in his field of view. He backed up, as he kept his weapon on me.

"Are you from the Rebel Alliance?" he asked.

I didn't answer again, as I kept gaining on him. In an attempt to make peace with me, he lowered his weapon and placed it on the ground.

"Look, we can work something out. I can take you to the Emperor." he said. "All you have to do is surrender so I can do that."

"You killed my wife." I said in a low voice.

"What?" he asked.

"You killed my wife." I said in a higher voice, as I got closer to him.

"No, I didn't! Sir, you've-" he tried to get through to me, but it was too late.

"You killed my wife!" I exclaimed, as I ran towards him, yelling with fury as I did.

He tried to back up and run, but I was on him. I lunged towards him and stabbed him in the stomach. He fell over as he gasped with pain. I continued to stab him, even though I probably didn't have to. I stabbed him over and over again, even after he was dead.

It dawned on me. He was just a kid. Maybe sixteen or seventeen. But I didn't seem to care. I killed an innocent kid, a scared kid and I didn't seem to care. Was I crazy? As I stood up, something fell out of my leather jacket.

I looked down, to see an envelope with my name on it.

 _Christ. Should I actually read it this time?_

I let out a sigh. I picked up the envelope.

 _Five Minutes Later_

I spent five minutes debating whether or not I should read the letter this time. Eventually, I gave in. I opened the envelope and pulled out the paper. I let out a sigh, as I unfolded the paper. It was a letter from Gwen. Even after all these years, I _still_ recognized her handwriting. I began to read.

 _Ben,_

 _I don't have much time. I'm dying. When I went to Grandpa for a diagnosis, he took a blood sample. After the blood analysis, it was revealed that Zombozo infected me with a terminal virus. I almost didn't get him to swear not to tell anyone. I'm going to die, Ben. I have accepted that. But that's not why I'm writing this letter. I still have time to give you some much needed advice and that's what I intend to do._

 _I know that if you ever see Zombozo again, that you'll want to kill him. But, promise me something. Don't kill Zombozo. If you kill him, than you're no better than he is. You put down your gun and you walk away. You don't have to kill anyone, Ben. No one has to kill anyone. I know that you can believe that._

 _I know that you really love me, but you can't let that hold you back. Don't let the happy memories of what we shared hold you back from your future. So, live your life! You should go off to college, you should get back out there and find someone special!_

 _Get married, have children, grow old with someone that you love! You'll find love again, I just know it! I know that you think you'll never love someone again, but you're wrong. You have to. It wouldn't be healthy to grow old all by yourself. I love you, Ben. I may be gone, but I'll always be with you. I'll be in your heart, Ben._

 _Love,_

 _Gwen_

I let out a sigh, as I finished reading the letter.

"Damn." I said with tears, as I folded the paper back up.

I put the paper back into the envelope and put the envelope back into my jacket. I reached down to the dead body and picked up the walkie talkie. I turned it on, pressed the button and spoke into it.

"Get me Vilgax." I said, in a gruff voice.

After a few seconds, a voice replied over the speaker.

"Who wants to know?" the person asked.

"Benjamin Fucking Tennyson." I hissed gruffly.

A few seconds passed once again before I got a response.

"Just a few minutes." the person said.

Like the guy said, it took a few seconds until I heard Vilgax's voice over the speaker.

"Tennyson! Look at you, being a big boy and contacting me yourself!" he said over the speaker. "What can I do for you, my good man?"

I got right to the point.

"My wife and brother are dead." I said. "I thought you'd like to know."

Vilgax said nothing for a full minute. He finally spoke.

"Damn, that is, wow." he spoke again. "As hard as it would be for you to believe, I _am_ sorry."

I said nothing in return. I began to pace around the area, keeping the walkie in my hand, as I wiped tears from my eyes.

"Is it something that we did?" he asked with a curious tone of voice.

I stopped in place, shocked at what he had just said. He asked, with caring in his voice.

 _As if he cares._

"What the fuck do you care?!" I exclaimed into the walkie. "Yes, it was something that you did!"

"What was it?" Vilgax asked after a few seconds.

"Zombozo bit both of them." I said in a gruff tone.

"Damn it." he said. "I told him to do anything that would break you, I _never_ said kill them!"

"And not killing them is breaking me?!" I exclaimed. "Fuck you, Vilgax!"

I looked down, as my eyes stung with tears.

"What are you doing, Ben?" Vilgax asked in a low voice. "What are you playing at here? You know what, it's _your_ fault that your wife and brother are dead! You couldn't protect them and it's your fault that they are dead!"

I said nothing.

"You couldn't leave well enough alone and let me save all of you! I mean, as hard as it would be to believe Tennyson, that's why I killed so many of your planet's people!" he said. "Because there would have been a lot of people who would have wanted to stand up to me! They would have stopped me from saving all of your people! So, I had to dispose of them! It's not too late to surrender, Tennyson! We can figure something out!"

I said nothing at first. I finally pressed the button.

"My girlfriend, Gwen, from so many years ago, wrote me a letter that I just now found." I said. "She didn't want me to kill Zombozo, but it's too late. I think that she wouldn't want me to kill you, either."

Vilgax said nothing.

"But I don't care. After everything you've done, after all the shit you've put me through, _I am going to kill you!_ " I said. "The only thing that scares me is _how_ I'm going to do it."

Vilgax was in silence for a few minutes.

"This is big news, Ben. Your brother and wife's death." he said. "Who's next?"

I teared up as I lifted the walkie to my mouth.

"You are!" I exclaimed.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for another chapter! What did everyone think?

* What does everyone think about how Ben Prime made Gwen 10 his second in-command? What about the revelation that Ben Prime gave to Gwen 10?

* Not that it really matters, but Ben Prime got a new outfit and will be wearing it for the rest of the arc.

* What do you guys think of Gwen's letter, that Old Man Ben finally read? Speaking of Old Man Ben, is he going insane? Will he keep breaking the promise that he made Kai? What did everyone think of the conversion between Old Man Ben and Vilgax?

* Anyway, that's it for this chapter! I'm going to though, so have a great day and bye!

Next Chapter: The Rebel Alliance discovers the location of Ben 11 and the P.O.W.s. Old Man Ben seeks out the help of a new group before returning to his childhood home.


	61. Chapter 60: Omniverse: Part 12

Chapter 60: Omniverse: Part Twelve

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty!

* So, Old Man Ben has seemingly gone rogue. Ben Prime has taken charge of the Rebel Alliance and has already got his people to work. Do you think Ben Prime is capable of leading them?

* Anyway, the chapter begins!

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Bellwood Ruins_

Vilgax and I had talked for several minutes after I threatened his life. Eventually, we came to a stopping point.

"So, you think that you can kill me?" he asked. "I'd like to see you try. My office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. I'll leave my door open for you."

I said nothing at first. Finally, I decided what I was going to say.

"What about Ben 11?" I asked. "My wife told me that he was a double agent before she died."

"Oh yes, the crazy one! I put him in charge of his own outpost." he said. "It's located on the south end of your city's ruins and he's holding the P.O.W.s there."

"You're just going to tell me where he's at?" I asked with an uncertain tone of voice.

"He's nothing more than a pawn to me. Do what you will with him." he said. "This is where this transmission ends. Goodbye, Tennyson."

I heard nothing else from the walkie after that. I clipped the walkie talkie to my belt and walked off, leaving the kid's body behind. Vilgax had told me where Ben 11 was hiding with the P.O.W.s.

The only question now was, how would I get in there? As much as I hated to admit it...

"I'm going to need some help." I said, as I continued to walk.

 _Ben_

 _Old Man Ben's Childhood Home_

 _Several Hours Later_

It had been a really long day. We had cut down several trees, but we hadn't gotten started on the walls yet. Nor had we started on repairing the roof or the weaker walls within the house.

We were slow. Maybe it was me, maybe it was my people, but something made us move slow. Honestly, I think it was the losses we've experienced as of late. The sun had gone down about an hour ago, and everyone had gone into the house for the night.

Gwen 10 was rocking Little Kenny in her arms, trying to get him to go to sleep. I tried to tell her to get someone else to get Kenny to sleep and get him tucked in, as she had worked hard today. But, she didn't listen. She was stubborn. She walked off before I could even make further attempts to tell her to let someone else handle Little Kenny.

I sighed, as I laid back onto my sleeping bag, which was still zipped shut at the moment. When they abandoned the Bunker, the brought weeks worth of food, spare clothes, as well as everyone's sleeping bags. In the pillow game, however, everyone had to fend for themselves, if it mattered.

After an additional ten more minutes, I fell asleep. Unfortunately, my sleep was short lived. I woke up to the sound of something flopping down beside me. I opened my eyes, to see Gwen 10 getting settled into her sleeping bag next to me.

"Hey." I said in a tired voice.

"Hey." she said back. "Oh, did I wake you up?"

"Yeah, you kinda did." I said, as I smiled a small smile.

"Oh, sorry." she said.

"It's fine." I said. "You finally give up on Little Kenny?"

She shook her head.

"No." she said. "Julie offered to take him from me since he hadn't gone to sleep yet. She insisted that I need my sleep."

"As my second in-command, _you do_." I said.

"Yeah, I am tired." Gwen 10 said, as she yawned. "Wrangling that child is time consuming. And tiring, too."

I smiled at her.

"What?" she asked, as she looked at me with a bit of a frown.

"You're going to make a great mother one day." I said.

She looked at me with a surprised gaze, and I could of sworn I saw her blush in the candle light.

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

"The way you handle that kid." I said. "You handle him gently. And you're so good at rocking him and getting him to go to sleep."

She just looked at me.

"There's a lot more to raising a child than gently handling them and knowing how to get them to sleep." Gwen 10 said.

"Well, I know that. It's just- It's just," I began to stutter. "I mean- Uh- Oh, Jesus. I guess I have to give you that one."

She chuckled next to me.

"Go to sleep." I said.

"You first." she said.

I blew out the candle that was burning between us. I got into my sleeping bag and rolled over onto my side.

"Good night." I said.

"Right back at you." I heard Gwen 10 said.

After that, there was silence in the house.

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Late That Night_

I traveled back to the suburban end of Bellwood, to where my childhood home was. The inside of the house was dark, so they all must have gone inside for the night. I had a message for Ben, my new leader.

I silently crept up to the front door, which was closed. I put the envelope down just outside of the door and left it there. I stood back up and crept away from the house. I would be gone for a while, but I'd be back.

 _Ben_

 _The Next Morning_

I was woken up early the next morning by Gwen 10. She was shaking me as I woke up. My eyes snapped open and I sat up pretty fast.

"What?" I asked. "What is it?! What's happening?!"

"Hey, hey, hey." Gwen 10 whispered. "Calm down. Everything's fine. Something just came for you."

I rubbed my eyes, as she sat next to me in silence.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

I opened my eyes once more and allowed my eyes to fully adjust to the dimly lighted living room. Gwen 10 handed me an envelope. I eyed it quizzically.

"Where'd you find this?" I asked.

"It was outside. On the doorstep." Gwen 10 asked. "Are you worried about something?"

I nodded.

"What?" she asked.

"Ben 11 could have sent this and I hope it wasn't from him." I said. "Because if it was, he knows where we're at he could send people to destroy us."

"I doubt that would be the case." Gwen 10 replied.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"If Ben 11 were to follow us here and then report back, don't you think we would all be dead by now?" Gwen 10 asked.

I sighed.

"You make a fair point." I said in a tired tone.

"Aren't you going to read it?" Gwen 10 asked.

"Yeah." I said, as I put the envelope underneath my arm, to grab the unlit candle and the small package of matches. "I'll go read it in the basement, then I'll decide what to do about it."

"I'll go with you." Gwen 10 said, as I got back.

"No." I said, as I walked past the rest of our people, who were still asleep. "Wake the others up. Get them ready for the day."

Gwen 10 said nothing else as I left the living room and walked past the kitchen into the hallway that led to the basement stairs. I walked down the stairs and into the middle of the room. I sat down on the floor and put the candle down, before lighting it.

I opened up the envelope and took out the paper inside. I unfolded it and began to read it out loud to myself.

"Ben, I don't have much time. I'm dying-" I stopped reading once I realized it was the same letter I had read yesterday.

"What the-" I asked in confusion.

I flipped it over and was surprised to see there was more writing on the back.

"Oh, okay." I said.

I began reading:

 _Ben,_

 _I've gotten into contact with Vilgax. You don't want to know how I did it. I have a walkie talkie with me that I got from a dead soldier. Vilgax has revealed to me that Ben 11 is held up in his own outpost with the P.O.W.s, as well as the location it is at._

 _I don't think we can effectively assault the compound with our current numbers. We need help. You remember when I mentioned the Rogue Squadron to you? I'm going to go find them and persuade their leader to come back with me. They're based at the northern end of the ruins of Bellwood, just barely on the outskirts._

 _It may take me a couple days to get back, that being the case. See you in a few days._

 _Thanks,_

 _Old Man Ben_

"Oh, Old Man Ben sent the letter." I said.

That made me feel better about the situation.

 _Wait, if he came back to deliver this message, why didn't he stay the night or ask for help?_

I didn't understand his reasoning there. I blew out the candle, folded the letter back up and put it back into the envelope, before going back upstairs. Once I got back upstairs, Gwen 10 was waiting for me there.

"Well?" she asked.

"Give me half an hour." I whispered to her. "The letter was from Old Man Ben. In half an hour form a group outside in the yard. I'll be there to address everyone."

"But, what did-" Gwen 10 was speaking as I walked back towards the hall.

"Thanks." I said.

 _Half An Hour Later_

I walked outside and stood on the steps. I looked out at all our people, who had gathered in the yard, standing in the dead grass.

"Thank you all for gathering here." I said. "Would any of you like to guess why I've gathered you here, today?"

Emo Ben was the first to speak.

"Is it because the war's over and you're sending us home?" he asked.

I saw a chance. I saw a chance to make a reference, so I took it.

"That's exactly it, Private. War's over. We won." I said with sarcasm. "Turn's out you're a big hero and we're holding a parade in your honor. I get to drive the float, and Gwen 10 is in charge of confetti!"

Emo Ben just looked at me.

"I'm no stranger to sarcasm, Sir." he said.

"God damn it, man!" I said. "Shut up before I have Albedo slit your throat while you're asleep!"

"Oh, I'd do it, too!" Albedo said.

I turned to look at him.

"I know you would, Albedo." I said. "That's what scares me."

I turned back to the crowd.

"Just one thing I need to talk about today, ladies and germs." I said. "I got a letter from Old Man Ben this morning. It would seem that he has seen fit to increase our ranks here."

"Oh, crap. We're getting rookies." Emo Ben said.

"That's right, dead man." I said. "Old Man Ben will be back within the week, with the new recruits. He has also found out that Ben 11 is now in charge of his own outpost and is holding the prisoners there. Once Old Man Ben get's back, we're going to assault the outpost with the recruits and get back the prisoners."

"That sounds like busy work." Emo Ben said. "Can't we just have a mission statement and _not_ do it?"

I turned to Albedo.

"Albedo, I want you to poison Emo Ben's next meal!" I said.

"Yes, Sir!" he exclaimed.

I turned back to the crowd.

"Look, people. We're doing this." I said. "Whether you like it or not. Besides, it'd be good to have some payback. Dismissed."

Everyone exchanged glances, nodded and walked off. Gwen 10 looked at me.

"What in the hell was that all about?" she asked. "Why were you berating Emo Ben?"

"For one, laziness is a trait that I don't need in this Alliance." I said. "For two, I wasn't berating him. I was referencing Red vs Blue, a web series made by Rooster Teeth."

I turned to Albedo.

"Albedo knows what I'm talking about. He was in on this." I said. "He has the same memories as I do, up to his "birth" that is."

Gwen 10 just looked at me.

"Oh." she said.

"That's it? "Oh"?" I asked.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked.

"I don't know." I said.

We stood there, just staring at each other. Eventually, I looked away from her.

"We should get to work." I said. "That wall isn't going to build itself."

"You're right." she said. "Let's get to work."

 _Later In The Day_

We had taken a break from cutting down the trees and were now digging the trench in the front yard. Most of us had reverted back to our human forms. After using our respective Omnitrixes for so long, it reverted us back to our human forms.

"Can we use our Omnitrixes again, Sir?" Emo Ben asked.

"No." I said. "Using them too much puts an enormous strain on the physical body. We can't risk using them again so soon."

"Oh, come on!" Albedo exclaimed.

"Stow it, mister!" I exclaimed.

No one said nothing else after that. The shovel I was using to dig swerved a little bit, causing me to fall down.

"Shit!" I exclaimed with pain, as I landed face first into the dirt.

"Ben!" Gwen 10 called, as she left her post.

"I'm fine." I said, with my face in the dirt.

Gwen 10 pulled me up and out of the dirt. I began to wipe the dirt from my face. Once I looked up at her, she smirked back at me.

"You missed a spot." she said, as she brought out a handkerchief.

"Wait-" I spoke, as she put the handkerchief against my lips and I stopped speaking out of surprise.

She began to rub my lips and cheek with the handkerchief, that's where I assumed the dirt I had missed was. After a few seconds, she pulled the handkerchief back.

"There." she said, as she smiled at me. "Good as new!"

I smiled back, as I turned away from her and blushed a shade of red.

"Thanks." I said.

She didn't answer as I got back to work.

 _Later, Towards The Evening_

Even after all of the working that we had been doing today, we were _still_ working. But on the plus side, we had started to build the wall. But it wasn't finished. It still required proper support, which it didn't really have right now.

"Okay guys, let's wrap it up for today!" I said.

Everyone looked at me, before stopping what they were doing. We all went inside the house, after cleaning up the yard and putting away the few tools that we had. After that, we had dinner with the few rations we could spare.

After we had dinner, it was time to get to bed. We had to be up early tomorrow in order to work on the wall.

 _A Couple Days Later_

 _Afternoon_

It had been done. The wall had been finished. It went all along the front yard of the house. There was also like a lookout area on the top of the wall. The wall had a gate, that would open and close with the use of a pulley system.

"I am amazed." I said, as I looked at the newly built wall. "I didn't think we'd get it done so soon."

"I never doubted you for a second." Gwen 10 said from beside me.

I nodded, as I looked at the rest of our crew.

"I can't say the rest of the crew feels the same." I said.

"Oh no, they didn't doubt you either." she said. "They just don't want to say it."

"Mmm." I said.

I stood there, thinking to myself, before someone called my name.

"Ben!" Emo Ben exclaimed. "Old Man Ben is back! He has people with him!"

I smiled, as I turned to look at him.

"Let them in." I said.

Gwen 10 and Albedo ran to the robes and began to pull on them, which would open the gates. The gates opened, and I saw Old Man Ben standing there, with four or five people behind him. He took a breath, before he walked through the gates.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for another chapter! Sorry it took a little long, but I hope you guys enjoyed. I realize that it was a little slow this time around, but the next chapter will make up for it.

* So, the final faction, the Rogue Squadron has arrived. More of them will be seen in the next chapter.

* That's going to do it for me. I'm going to go, so have a great day and, bye!

Next Chapter: With the help of the Rogue Squadron and an old friend, Old Man Ben and Ben Prime lead the Rebel Alliance on to an assault on Ben 11's compound.


	62. Chapter 61: Omniverse: Part 13

Chapter 61: Omniverse: Part Thirteen

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty-One!

* So, as I mentioned at the end of the last chapter, the Rogue Squadron are finally making their first appearance, only six or seven chapters after Old Man Ben told Ben Prime about them.

* That's what's going on in this chapter, minus the assault on Ben 11's outpost, but that comes later in the chapter. Anyway, the chapter begins.

* Also, before I start, shout-out to Car-54! Several weeks ago, he and I brainstormed on an idea regarding Ben 11's backstory and I've decided to use it. So, thanks man! You the real MVP! XD Anyway, on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Old Man Ben's Childhood Home_

Old Man Ben walked up to me, and the five people behind him followed slowly.

"Uh, welcome back Old Man Ben!" I said in greeting. "Who are-"

"They're the Rogue Squadron, the people I wrote about in the letter." Old Man Ben said, interrupting me. "You did read my letter, right?"

"Well, yeah. But-" I began to speak, but Old Man Ben interrupted me.

"Than you should already know that these people are the Rogue Squadron." he said. "Go ahead and say hello."

I looked at the five of them. A gigantic, mutated Kevin. I'm assuming it was Old Man Ben's Kevin. And he _was_ gigantic. While my version of Kevin was about ten feet tall in his mutated form, this Kevin was easily fifteen or twenty feet tall.

Next, there was an African American, with an Omnitrix. I suppose that he was an African American version of myself? Next, there was yet another version of me, with black hair, possibly having been dyed. He was wearing a black leather jacket, with a black T-shirt underneath, with a skull imprinted on it. He was also wearing black pants and opposite of his Omnitrix wrist, he wore a black wristband with spikes on it.

I'd come back to naming him. Next, I looked at a female teenager, with long brown hair. She had green eyes and of course, an Omnitrix. She wore blue jeans, a white T-shirt and over that, a green jacket. I assumed that she was the female version of me, which was just weird.

And finally, there was another version of me. And this one stood out the most among the five. This one was pretty much identical to me, only his outfit was just weird. He was wearing pants of some kind, a dark brown leather jacket and aviator goggles. He also had an Omnitrix, if it mattered.

"Um, hello?" I finally said.

Kevin turned to look at Old Man Ben.

"Okay, what the hell is this?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Ben's our new leader. I resigned."

Kevin just stared at him.

"So, let me get this straight. You mean to tell me, that you, the revered leader of-"

"Former leader." I corrected him.

Old Man Kevin turned to look at me, anger in his eyes.

"Kid, shut your mouth." he said. "I'll get to you in a minute."

He turned back to Old Man Ben.

"You resigned, and put a kid in charge?!" he exclaimed. "What is the matter with you?!"

"Don't talk about Ben like that!" Old Man Ben exclaimed. "You have no idea what he's been through!"

"Oh, I don't?" Old Man Kevin yelled. "Well, let me ask him!"

He turned to face me.

"Hey, kid, what have you been through?" he asked.

I said nothing, narrowing my eyes at him. Old Man Kevin eventually looked back at Old Man Ben.

"See, he doesn't even want to say anything!" he said. "So, why is he in charge?! What made you put that inexperienced kid in charge?!"

 _Inexperienced?! Oh, it's on! It's on like Donkey Kong!_

"He's in charge, because the Rebel Alliance needs him, Kevin!" Old Man Ben exclaimed. "I'm not fit to lead anymore!"

"Not fit to lead anymore? What does that mean?!" Kevin exclaimed.

Old Man Ben looked at the ground, cursing under his breath.

"Oh, that's right. You don't know." he said. "I never told you."

"I don't know what?" Old Man Kevin asked. "You never told me what?!"

Old Man Ben turned to look at me.

"I'm taking Kevin to the backyard." he said. "Make sure no one follows us. I need one on one time with him to explain all this."

"Yes, Sir." I said.

"Don't call me that." he said, as he walked towards the gate to the backyard. "I'm not in charge anymore. You are."

Old Man Kevin followed him, but stopped when he reached me. He gave me a look of anger.

"Don't listen to him kid. You aren't in charge. Old Man Ben still is." he said. "If anyone's unfit to lead the Alliance, it's _you_."

He walked off and I turned to watch him go.

"That hurt, you know!" I exclaimed.

Old Man Kevin stopped in his tracks. He turned back to look at me.

"I don't fucking care." he said.

And with that, he walked away, without saying anything else to me.

 _Old Man Ben_

"What the fucking hell was that, man?" Kevin asked, as he followed me into the back. "You put a kid in charge? Are you crazy?! Have you finally lost your shit?"

"I lost it all a long time ago, Kevin." I said, as I walked up to the graves.

"A fucking kid, man!" he exclaimed.

I was infuriated.

 _He didn't at all understand. But in all honesty, how could I have expected him to?_

I turned to face him.

"Shut up! Shut your fucking mouth, Kevin!" I exclaimed. "Get over here and look at these! Don't say anything, just get the fuck over here!"

Kevin rolled his eyes, but none the less walked over to where I was.

"You're such a fucking drama queen, man." he said, as he walked over to me.

He shrank back down to his human form. He hadn't changed much over the years. Except for the long black hair and a small beard, which was no where near as long as mine was. He stared at the grave markers for a minute or two.

"Damn." he finally said. "How did it happen?"

"Zombozo. Bit Albedo on the neck and Kai on the forearm." I said.

"What a tragedy." he said. "It must suck, them dying exactly like Gwen died, huh?"

I perked up. That made me angry. I turned and instantly slugged him in the jaw. He fell back a little and looked at me with anger in his eyes, as he felt his lips.

"What the hell, man?!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?!"

"Don't ever remind me of how she went!" I exclaimed. "You have no right!"

He just looked at me, before adjusting so he stood straight again.

"Sorry, man. But fuck, you know." he said. "It was evident. I just wanted to point it out."

"You didn't have to point it out." I said, through gritted teeth.

"What the fuck do you want me to do?!" he exclaimed. "I already fucking apologized for it!"

"I don't ever want to hear you bring it up again." I said.

He was silent for a while, with a grimace on his face, but it eventually disappeared. He smiled as he walked back up to me.

"Done." he said. "But all of this doesn't explain something."

"And what's that?" I asked.

"Why the hell did you leave a fucking kid in charge of the Rebel Alliance?!" he exclaimed.

"Jesus Christ Kevin, we've been over this!" I said. "I'm not fit to lead anymore!"

"What the hell does that even mean?!" Kevin asked.

"Fuck you." I said.

"What the fuck did you just say to me?" Kevin asked.

"No, seriously. Fuck you!" I said. "I lost Gwen, and now Albedo and Kai, too! Do you really think that I'm still sane?!"

"You should still be sane!" Kevin exclaimed. "Their deaths should give you the motivation to end this war!"

"Well, it doesn't, Kevin!" I exclaimed. "I think I've finally lost it! I mean, I killed one of the Emperor's Knights the other day, and he was just a kid! All I want to do is kill Vilgax! If I lead this Alliance, I'm going to lead everyone to their deaths!"

"Okay, okay, okay." Kevin said. "Let's fucking move on. You actually think a fucking kid is capable of leading?"

"He's more than capable." I said. "He's what they need."

"No, he's not." he said. "And I and my men won't follow him into battle. We'll follow you, but not him."

"Well, you will follow him." I said. "I called onto you for help and you agreed. You have to follow him, he's your new leader."

"No, fuck that!" Kevin said. "We'll help you, but under the condition that you lead."

"Well, that won't happen." I said. "Ben is leading us, not me anymore."

"Than I guess my people and I are leaving." Kevin said, before he stormed away.

 _Ben_

"Ben, we have a problem." Emo Ben said, coming up to me.

"For the last time, I'm not your mother. So don't come tattling to me when one of you does something that the other doesn't like." I said, referring to Albedo.

"But he keeps threatening me in a scary voice!" Emo Ben said.

"No, I didn't!" Albedo exclaimed.

Emo Ben turned to look at him.

"Oh, so you're saying that you didn't just threaten to rip me limb from limb?" he asked.

"I think you're taking my words out of context." Albedo said.

"Guys, I thought-"

I was interrupted by one of the new Bens.

"Excuse me, Ben?" he asked.

I looked at him from out of the corner of my eye.

"Pal, hold on a second, okay?" I said. "I'm onto something here."

I turned back to Emo Ben and Albedo.

"Guys, I thought that'd we'd established by now, that I don't like either of you." I said. "So competing for my attention isn't going to do you any good."

Albedo started laughing, at yet another reference to Red vs Blue I just made.

"Excuse me, Ben?" the same one asked again.

I turned to look at him.

"Okay, yes, hello." I said. "Who are you?"

"Hi, if we're going to be working with one another, I thought I'd introduce myself." he said. "My name's Ben."

"No way!" I said with sarcasm. "I never would have guessed!"

"What's the state of the water here?" he asked.

"If it's water you want buddy, you'll have to provide you're own." I said. "We ran out of water six months ago."

"Ran out of water? Then what have you guys been drinking?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, Ketchup, soy sauce, gravy." I said. "You know, the usual."

"How many Red vs Blue references can you make in a day?" Albedo asked.

"Shut up." I muttered.

Old Man Kevin came back out in the yard, in what I was assuming was his human form.

"Alright people, pack it up." he said. "We're leaving."

"We're leaving?" the Ben with Aviator Goggles asked. "I thought we were staying to help?"

"Not with Old Man Ben putting that kid in charge." Old Man Kevin said.

I was angry now. I approached him.

"Hey!" I exclaimed at him, as he turned to face me. "You think that I'm incapable of leading? What's so special about you? I got this wall built, didn't I?! What have you done?! I'm just going to say it now, anyone who wants to stay and help, they can! You don't have to stay, but if any of your people want to stay, they can!"

Old Man Kevin just looked at me.

"Congratulations kid, you just managed to piss me off." he said, before turning away. "Come on people, let's go."

Old Man Kevin began moving towards the gate to the wall, before the Ben with the Aviator Goggles spoke.

"Actually Sir, we're not going anywhere." he said.

Old Man Kevin stopped walking. He turned around to face his people.

"Excuse me, do my hears deceive me?" he asked. "Or did you really just fucking refuse your orders?"

The Ben with black hair stepped forward.

"I agree with him, Sir." he said. "We're going to stay and help the Alliance. Besides, some payback on the Emperor would be nice."

Old Man Kevin began to grumble, as he moved away from the wall and went to go sit by the house. I grinned in spite of myself. Old Man Ben came walking back from the backyard. He noticed Old Man Kevin sitting against the house.

"I thought they were leaving?" he asked.

"Nope." I said. "He can leave if he wants to. However, the rest of his people have agreed to stay and help us."

"Excellent news." Old Man Ben said, before putting his hand on his chin. "Albedo, a bit of a word, please?"

"Sure!" Albedo said, as he walked over to Old Man Ben.

"Ben, get to know the other versions of us." Old Man Ben said. "I need to talk to Albedo for a bit."

"Okay." I said, as I watched them walk out of sight.

I turned back to the Rogue Squadron, minus Old Man Kevin. I looked at all of them. My eyes fell onto the Ben with Aviator Goggles.

"Okay, you first." I said. "What's your story?"

"My name's Ben Tennyson." he said. "And I'm from from the year 1984."

"1984?" I asked. "How is that possible? And what's with the leather jacket and the goggles?"

"In my dimension, World War II never ended." he said. "The U.S. never dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as they would have in your respective dimension."

"What? That's just... Wow." I said.

"Yeah. It's a lot to take in, I know." the Ben said.

 _I'm calling this one WWII Ben for sure._

"Well, I see you have your own Omnitrix." I said. "How'd you get that if World War II never ended?"

"That's... A very long story." WWII Ben finally said.

"We have time don't we?" I asked.

"Okay, fine. In the 1950's the U.S. discovered the existence of aliens. But we were behind, the Germans had known of alien life since 1939." he said.

"The year the war began, right?" I asked.

"That's right. Nazi Germany came in contact with the very alien we're fighting against in this dimension: Vilgax." he said.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me, that Adolf Hitler, one of the most despicable men in history, met Vilgax?!" I asked.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying. The Germans worshiped Vilgax like a God, and in return, he let them be, and provided them with alien weapons." WWII Ben said.

"So, I guess that's why WWII hasn't ended yet?" I asked.

He nodded.

"The Germans were too advanced for us to fight back successfully until about 1947, when we actually got ahold of their weapons and took them back to base." he said. "We reverse engineered them to make our own weapons. Eventually, in 1950, we came in contact with alien life, life that was actually friendly."

"And then-?" I asked, fishing for more.

"A few of the aliens willingly gave us samples of their DNA, and with those, we eventually created the Omnitrix." WWII Ben said. "I wasn't the first to get it of course, I hadn't even been born yet. But, when I was 16, I was forced to enlist. And in a battle, the wielder of the Omnitrix timed out at the wrong time and was killed in action. Without even thinking, I grabbed the Omnitrix from his body. Now, I'm the current wielder of the Omnitrix."

"Okay, so it sounds like America is doing better, but what about the other Allies? What are they doing?" I asked.

"Other Allies?" WWII Ben scoffed. "You don't really know anything, do you?"

"How would I know anything?!" I said. "I don't know anything about where you come from!"

"Okay, fine! Sorry. There is no Allied Power anymore. It's just America against the Axis Powers, Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy." WWII Ben said. "In the 1940's, after the Germans lost in Stalingrad, Hitler was pissed. So, with the help of Vilgax, he dropped a bomb on the U.S.S.R., which killed the remaining Soviets. And in the 50's, fearing the same thing would happen to them, the British surrendered. The Axis powers took control of the British Isles and the rest is history."

WWII Ben looked down in defeat.

"We're all that's left." he said in a grim tone.

"Wow, that's quite a story." I said.

"Thanks." WWII Ben replied.

Albedo ran over to my side, done talking with Old Man Ben apparently. I turned to the Ben with black hair and all black clothes.

"What about you, what's your story?" I asked.

"Well, there really isn't a story to tell." he said. "I'm a Goth. I'm into Gothic stuff."

"A Goth Ben and a Emo Ben. What's the difference?" I asked.

"Emo stands for emotional hardcore. It's a type of punk rock which originated in Washington during the mid-90's." Gwen 10 said. "Goth on the other hand, is short for Gothic rock and and formed in the early 1980's."

"Why does everything that comes out of your mouth sound like a book report?" I asked her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "I take offence to that!"

"Take a number." I said.

I looked at the African American version of myself.

"So, what's your story?" I asked him.

Before he could speak, Albedo answered for him.

"Oh, please! He can't spell neighbor, so he calls it th-" Albedo tried to make a racial joke, but I interrupted him.

"I'm going to stop you right there!" I exclaimed, turning to look at Albedo.

Albedo shrunk back after I yelled at him. I turned back to the African American Ben.

"Sorry about him. He's usually-" I tried to speak, but he interrupted me.

"Keep that thing on a fucking leash!" he said, before storming away from me.

"Kirby, where are you going?" WWII Ben called to him. "You know it wasn't his fault!"

The African American me, I assumed he went by "Kirby", which was our middle name, turned back around to look at him.

"I don't care! You just keep both of them the fuck away from me!" he exclaimed, as he stormed away from all of us.

I was astonished about what had just happened. The female that was with the Rogue Squadron turned to me.

"Sorry about him. Kirby can be kind of a hot head." she said.

"Yeah. I can see that." I said. "By the way, who are you again?"

"Oh, right. This is awkward. I'm the female version of you." she said. "My name is Benita Tennyson."

"Benita Tennyson. The female version of me." I said. "Now I've seen everything."

She just chuckled, saying nothing about it. Old Man Ben walked past me.

"Everyone, meet me in the house." he said. "I'm calling a meeting."

WWII Ben looked at me.

"I thought you were the leader now?" he asked. "Can he call a meeting?"

"As long as I get home as soon as possible, I don't care what he does." I said, as I walked towards the door. "Come on, let's go see what he has to say."

 _Five Minutes Later_

All of us had filed into the living room of the old house and we stood in a circle, with Old Man Ben in the middle. He had a folded up paper of some kind. In the dim light, he got onto his knee and began to unfold the paper. He placed it down on the floor, which revealed it to be a map.

There was a circle area on the map. Old Man Ben pointed at the circle.

"We have to take Ben 11's outpost." he said, as he pointed at it.

"That's it?" I asked. "That's what this is about?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem?" Old Man Ben asked.

"No." I said. "I j-"

"Good! Because we move out in five minutes." he said.

Groans of disappointment filled the room.

"Old Man Ben, shouldn't we train or something first, instead of just marching into it blindfolded?" I asked.

"No. It has to be today." Old Man Ben said. "Everyone get ready!"

Everyone left the room, leaving me and Old Man Ben alone.

"Old Man Ben, you can't expect us all to go!" I said. "We're all exhausted from building the wall!"

"So, what's your point?" he asked. "I want to do this now! I want the war to be over tomorrow if possible!"

"And you think I don't want this war to be over?!" I said. "We're all tired of fighting Old Man Ben."

"It doesn't matter." he said. "We're going, whether they like it or not."

"Okay, okay, okay! Fine!" I said. "But if we're doing this, we're doing it my way! I'm giving the orders. You made me in charge, remember?"

Old Man Ben looked at me.

"Fine." he finally said. "You have five minutes to round everyone up. We leave soon."

I took a breath, glad that I was able to at least get somewhere with him. I turned around and left the house. I stepped outside, into the front yard, where the remaining members of the Rebel Alliance and the members of the Rogue Squadron were waiting.

"Alright everyone, get your gear and weapons." I said. "We're moving out!"

"Yes, Sir!" multiple people said.

I noticed that Old Man Kevin did nothing but glare at me with disapproval.

 _What did I ever do to him?_

Most of everyone ran to the shed in the back, which is where we set up the armory. I looked over to Gwen 10, who was walking around the perimeter of the yard, holding Little Kenny. I walked up to her, as she noticed me.

"I'm going to stay here and look after Little Kenny." she said to me.

"That won't be necessary." I said. "Cooper and Julie can look after him. If worse comes to worse, Cooper is more than capable of defending this place. Besides, I need you. You may be my best fighter."

She looked at me, as she blushed a light pink.

"Really?" she asked.

I nodded. She looked away from me after that. She began to walk back towards the house.

"Well, I'll go give this little guy to Julie." she said.

"No rush." I called as she sped away.

 _One Hour Later_

We left, and an hour after walking, we found the outpost. We all took cover behind wrecked cars.

"Okay kid, what the fuck are we doing?" Old Man Kevin asked.

"Hold on, I'm thinking!" I said. "And be quiet! They may or may not know that we're here!"

Old Man Kevin just scoffed at my response, as I thought about what to do.

"Okay, split up. Three of you go over there, to that wrecked car." I said, as I pointed to the left. "And three of you go take cover by that metal wall. If I move in, follow my lead."

"I'll do whatever I want." Old Man Kevin said.

I turned around to face him.

"I'm only going to tell you once to shut the fuck up." I said, through gritted teeth.

Old Man Ben came up behind Old Man Kevin.

"Kevin, go somewhere else and quit pissing the kid off." he said.

"Whatever." Old Man Kevin said, as he snuck away. "I still don't think an ass hat like him is fit to lead."

I gritted my teeth as I began to growl with anger.

"So, what do you think Ben?" Old Man Ben asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"I don't know." I said, as I stood up and turned around to look at the outpost. "I don't like it, it seems quiet. Too quiet."

Just then, a laser bolt whizzed past my ear.

"Now all of a sudden it's too loud." I said. "Scatter!"

"Fuck, I missed him!" I heard Ben 11 shout.

A few of the Bens emerged from their cover and began to shoot at Ben 11. He dodged all the shots as he continued to shoot at us.

"You'll never take me alive!" he exclaimed, as he ran down the stairs and through the doors of the building.

"Come on, after him!" I exclaimed, as I jumped over my cover.

I, along with my entire squad ran towards the outpost, which was honestly poorly defended. We ran through the front doors, into a lobby of some sort. As I ran, I spotted two sets of stairs, going to a second floor, most likely. I stopped running for a second.

"Four of you, up the stairs! I want you to be ready for anything!" I exclaimed.

Gwen 10, WWII Ben, Emo Ben and Benita (who I was still weirded out about her being a female me), all ran up the stairs without question. I continued running, with the rest of the team through the next set of doors. We ran into a circular room, with a second level, surrounded by a railing overlooking the first floor.

At on the second floor, was Ben 11, pointing his Laser Rifle at us.

"You continue to both surprise and disappoint me, Old Man Ben." Ben 11 replied.

I lowered my weapon, when I noticed that there were four knights above us, all pointing their weapons at us. I looked over my shoulder, to see the rest of my team had lowered their weapons as well.

"Let's run right at the enemy!" Old Man Kevin said. "Great plan, you idiot!"

I beyond infuriated by Old Man Kevin by now.

"You, shut up." Ben 11 said, before looking at one of the knights. "You, EMP them so they can't transform."

"Yes, Sir!" one of the knights said, as he tossed a canister looking grenade down at us.

It flashed, leaving us slightly blinded and every Omnitrix was in the red. I noticed that the EMP grenade also reverted Ben 11 to his human form. This was the first time I got a good look at him in his human form. He had pale skin, long, unkept brown hair and green eyes. He had abnormally long nails and he also looked mentally unstable.

I let out a sigh of defeat. But then, I saw Gwen 10, WWII Ben, Emo Ben and Benita on the second floor, all sneaking up on the knights.

"Hey, Ben 11?" I asked.

"What?!" he exclaimed with anger.

"You're gonna feel like an asshole in three, two, one." I said.

Gwen 10, WWII Ben, Emo Ben and Benita had all gotten behind a knight each, and were pointing the barrels of their weapons to the back of the their heads. Ben 11 looked around him at what was going on.

"Fuck! How did that happen?" he exclaimed.

"Give it up, Ben 11." I said. "The game's over."

The knights all dropped their weapons and kicked them down to the first floor.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Ben 11 asked. "We can still win!"

"No, you can't." Old Man Ben said. "Where are you keeping the prisoners?"

"They're in the next room over, locked in a room." he said.

"They've better not be harmed." I said. "Albedo, go and get them."

"Sure thing." he said, as he jogged past me and down the corridor.

"They haven't been harmed." Ben 11 said. "I can ensure that."

I ignored him.

"Gwen 10, him down here." I said. "Now."

Gwen 10 read the message I was sending and walked over to Ben 11 and stopped behind him.

"What are you-"

"Shut up." Gwen 10 said, as she kicked him over the railing.

He fell down a few feet the the floor and landed face first.

"Son of a bitch! I think you broke my arm!" Ben 11 said with pain.

I walked over to him and stopped in front of him.

"There are 206 bones in the human body." I said, before I punched him in the jaw with force. "That's one."

"How many knights did Vilgax loan you?" Old Man Ben asked.

Ben 11 spit on the ground, no blood being present in his saliva.

"Only the four in here." Ben 11 said.

"Bullshit." I said, as I turned to look at Old Man Ben. "I think he's lying."

"So do I." Old Man Ben replied.

"I'm not lying." Ben 11 said.

I turned to face him. Ben 11 looked at me.

"Vilgax didn't think I was an asset worth protecting. But he gave me some protection." he said. "He doesn't even expect me to survive for much longer."

"Vilgax and I agree for once." Old Man Ben said, as Albedo returned, with Kid Ben, Teen Ben, and Punk Rock Ben.

"It's about time!" Punk Rock Ben said, as he got close to us.

I ignored him.

"Delta," Old Man Ben said. "get the kid out of here. He doesn't need to see what's about to happen."

"Yes, Sir!" Emo Ben said, as he jumped down from the second floor. "Come on kid, let's go."

"Old Man Ben, I'm ready for what'll happen!" Kid Ben said. "I'm old enough!"

"You go now!" I exclaimed with frustration, as I looked at Emo Ben. "Get him outside."

Emo Ben nodded, took Kid Ben's hand and walked with him out of the room. Ben 11 looked at Old Man Ben and I.

"What're you going to do to me?" he asked with fear.

"Well, first you're going to tell us why you sold us out. Because of it, you got my wife killed." Old Man Ben said. "Then, it depends on what you tell us."

Ben 11 looked at us with worry.

"Talk!" I exclaimed with anger.

"Okay, okay, okay!" he exclaimed. "When I got here, I knew I had to side with someone. So, I decided to side with the faction that was most likely to win. And I decided that I should side with the faction that will pay more."

"Pay more?" I asked. "What pay is there?!"

"I get to live!" Ben 11 said, as he looked up at me. "And once all this is over, Vilgax leaves me alone and I get to live in this dimension, free of charge!"

"You would have gotten to live if you sided with us, too!" I exclaimed. "Don't you want to go home?!"

"I don't have a home to go back to! My dimensions version of Vilgax destroyed my home! He killed my entire family, and not only that," Ben 11 exclaimed, before looking at the ground and speaking in a hushed tone. "but he killed the woman I loved."

Old Man Ben and I exchanged glances, before I looked back at Ben 11.

"If Vilgax killed your entire family, destroyed everything you ever knew, why would you side with him?" I asked.

"It's not the same Vilgax, you dolt!" Ben 11 said. "And I don't have a home to go back to, remember? I don't care if I live through this, or if I die. I might as well align myself with the side that's actually most likely to win."

"Vilgax won't win." Old Man Ben said. "Now stand up.

Ben 11 did as he was told, standing up in front of us.

"Can I say something?" he asked.

"What?" Old Man Ben asked.

"You better make sure that you don't have any more moles in your Alliance." Ben 11 said.

"Oh, don't you worry about that." Old Man Ben said. "We're on top of the situation."

Then, he did something that surprised us all. He pulled out a knife, and stabbed Ben 11 through the throat. After he pulled the knife out, Ben 11 fell to the floor, gagging and choking on his own blood, as he attempted to hold his wound.

 _Five Minutes Later_

Five minutes later, Ben 11 had died from his wound, having bled to death. Old Man Ben looked at Ben 11's body, before walking away.

"Come on everybody." he said.

"Wait, shouldn't we bury him?" I asked, turning to look at him.

Old Man Ben turned to look at me.

"No. Scum like him doesn't deserve to be buried." he said, as he turned around. "Let's go."

He left the room, leaving the rest of us with a dead body.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed!

* What did you think of the alternate history of World War II, the dimension where WWII Ben came from? Old Man Ben and Old Man Kevin are butting heads, but it's more Ben Prime who is butting heads with Old Man Kevin. Also, Old Man Kevin is a lot more foul mouthed then Old Man Ben is, he also has a much shorter temper.

* Ben 11 is dead. Did he have that death coming?

* That's it for this chapter. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye!

Next Chapter: The Rebel Alliance recovers from their latest loss. Old Man Kevin and Ben Prime continue to butt heads.


	63. Chapter 62: Omniverse: Part 14

Chapter 62: Omniverse: Part Fourteen

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty Two!

* So, I've realized I've made a mistake. For several chapters now, I've said that I'd planned to have this arc finished by the end of April, as well as Volume One being done around the end of May. Obviously, it won't be finished at the end of April, the arc that is. And the story most likely won't be finished within May. It's just a bunch of set backs. Some of them are to blame from this site, but most of them are inconviences in real life.

* I've had a bad track record with schedule making when it comes to releasing story chapters on this site. If any of my readers today were reading my stuff back around this time last year, you would remember that for a very brief time I would guarantee a chapter every Saturday for any one of my stories. Well, that lasted two weeks, maybe three if I was lucky. And it didn't last because I'm not very good at schedule keeping when it comes to this site.

* So, I'm not going to schedule the release of chapters anymore. The chapters will come out when I can get them out. I don't want to give an exact date, I really don't, because of what I just said, but if I were to make a prediction of when Volume One will be finished, it'd probably extend past June or possibly July. Anyway, sorry for going on a bit of a random tangent there. On with the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _Ruins of Bellwood_

Old Man Ben left us in the room, alone with a dead body. I was still in shock over what had just happened. I mean, I had expected Old Man Ben to kill Ben 11. But why am I so shocked about it? I finally came to my senses, and turned to look at the rest of my people.

"Well, everyone." I said, as I turned. "Let's go."

Emo Ben and Kid Ben were already outside, and I wanted to join them. I walked back through the lobby, towards the doors to the outside, with the rest of my people behind me. Just as I reached the door, I heard Old Man Ben's voice.

"Oh, fuck." he said.

"Yeah. "Oh fuck" is right." I heard a threatening voice speak. "Don't try anything."

I ran outside and pointed my Laser Rifle at the threat, who I assumed was Vilgax. He looked taller than my dimension's version of Vilgax. This Vilgax looked war torn. His tentacles that grew on his face grew down to the middle of his chest also, like a big beard of some kind.

"Hey kid, long time no see." Vilgax said. "How you doing?"

I didn't respond, as my finger was barely touching the trigger.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Vilgax said. "You're better off lowering your weapon."

I wasn't going to lower my weapon, but one of Vilgax's knights came over to me, forcefully took my Rifle out of my hands and pushed me onto my knees, just as they did with the rest of my people.

"Okay, now that we're all here, I'm going to speak." Vilgax said. "And you're going to listen!"

"Why?" Old Man Ben exclaimed. "All you do to me is-"

"No!" Vilgax shouted. "I have something to say, and you will listen! After everything you've ever done to me, you _will_ listen!"

"All the things I've done?!" Old Man Ben exclaimed. "What about all the things that _you've_ done?!"

Vilgax looked at one of his knights.

"Shut him up." he said to the knight.

"Yes, Emperor." the knight said.

The knight went up behind Old Man Ben and whacked him in the back of the head with the butt of his Rifle.

"Agh! Son of a bitch!" Old Man Ben exclaimed, as he fell over a little bit, before being forced back upright by a knight.

"Right, now that that's done, I can get to what I need to say." he said. "You have put me through so many set backs! The attempted raid on my Tower, the assault on the compound, and now you've went and killed Ben 11!"

"What do you care?!" I asked. "Ben 11 told us that you didn't care about him!"

"Oh, I didn't care about him!" Vilgax replied, as he paced back and forth in front of all of us. "I didn't expect him to survive more than a day!"

"Is that why you left him so poorly defended?" I asked.

"Well, I have to leave him with some kind of defense, even if I didn't want to." Vilgax said. "So, I left him with my four worst knights."

I just looked down at the ground, not sure what to do.

"But now, because you just had to screw up my plans," Vilgax spoke, as he looked at us. "I'm going to kill one of you."

 _Jesus Christ, not this again._

Vilgax looked at me, directly at me.

"You should of stayed in your little hole, mouse boy." he said.

"I don't understand." I said.

"What? You don't understand the part where I'm going to kill one of your friends?" Vilgax asked. "We've already covered that."

I ignored that.

"Why? Why would you give Ben 11 protection when you didn't expect him to survive?" I asked.

"Like I said, I didn't expect him to survive more than a day. All he had to do was keep the hate train a-going!" Vilgax exclaimed. "And believe me, he helped!"

I just looked at Vilgax.

"But then, he did something special. He gave your side hope." Vilgax continued. "He gave you the hope that eventually you could win against me."

I still said nothing.

"But you can't win! All the hope that you've been given, it all means nothing! The grim reality of it all, is that you're all losers!" he exclaimed. "Because at the end of the day, if I'm bigger than you, than I can kill you! And that's better than anything you can do!"

I didn't say anything. I was so scared right now. I heard struggling behind me and turned to look at was going on, out of the corner of my eye. I saw Teen Ben elbowing the knight who was keeping him down.

"Oh, look. He's volunteering himself. How very noble." Vilgax said, before looking at one of the knights at his side. "Take him."

Teen Ben escaped his captor and ran forward.

"Right, Emperor." the knight said, before pointing his Laser Rifle towards Teen Ben.

"No!" I exclaimed with anger, as I watched Vilgax's knight shoot Teen Ben in the head with his Rifle.

Teen Ben fell to the ground, not moving anymore. I looked at Teen Ben's dead body, before looking back at Vilgax with anger.

"Well, that wasn't so hard! I didn't even have to choose who died!" Vilgax exclaimed. "He volunteered himself! How nice! I should thank him."

I was beyond angry at this point, but I still didn't do anything.

"Well, that was quicker than I thought it would be." Vilgax replied.

I looked over once more at Teen Ben's body, tears coming to my eyes. I looked back at Vilgax, as he moved towards me.

"Well, that's going to do it for us. I imagine we'll be seeing each other again in the next few days." he said. "Until then, ta-ta!"

Vilgax turned around and walked away from us. I turned once more, and looked at Teen Ben's body, as tears rolled down my cheeks. Once Vilgax was gone, I heard someone get up from behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Old Man Kevin standing beside me.

"Well? Are you happy now, kid?!" he exclaimed. "You got one of our own killed! What do you think of that?! Are you happy?! How will you live with your-"

"Shut the fuck up!" I exclaimed, as I stood up and slugged Old Man Kevin in the jaw.

He fell over and onto the ground.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I exclaimed, as I continued punching him. "It wasn't my fault! It wasn't my fucking fault!"

I was cursing, with no regard of Kid Ben being with us. I kept punching Old Man Kevin where he lay on the ground. I was punching him so much that my fists were starting to hurt.

"Ben, stop!" Emo Ben exclaimed, as he tried to pull me off of Old Man Kevin.

I elbowed Emo Ben in the stomach, sending him backwards. I continued to punch Old Man Kevin out of anger.

"I'm sick and tired of your shit!" I exclaimed, not ceasing my assault on him. "What the fuck did I ever do to you?!"

"Ben, seriously! Stop!" I heard Gwen 10 say, before I felt her grab my arms.

She dragged me off of Old Man Kevin and away from him. I was breathing heavily, as I was dragged away. She stopped once I was several feet away from Old Man Kevin.

"Just breath, okay?" she asked me.

I looked at her, and eventually nodded, still angry though. I started to slowly breath in and out, as I looked at Old Man Kevin, curious of how much damage I did to him. His face was badly bleeding and bruised up pretty good. I was beginning to realize that I may have made a mistake.

 _Sometime Later_

We had made it back to the house. Well, not all of us made it back. We carried Teen Ben back to base, so that we could bury him. Well, I wasn't allowed to help bury him, seeing as my hands could be badly damaged.

Emo Ben and Albedo buried him, while Gwen 10 provided medical attention to me. We were sitting in the old kitchen, on the floor with a lit candle so she could she see what she was doing.

I hissed in pain, as she cleaned my hands with the limited medical supplies that we had. I was going through some major deja vu shit right now. Gwen 10 looked up at me and our eyes met for a split second, before I looked away again.

"How bad is it?" I asked.

"Nothing's broken, if that's what your asking." Gwen 10 said, as she began to bandage my hands. "But I wouldn't recommend that you use them too much. They could be even more damaged than I thought."

She finished the job by bandaging my hand up, making sure that my knuckles were covered.

"Thanks." I said.

"It's no problem." she said.

"Ben." I heard someone say.

I looked up to see Old Man Ben standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Kevin just woke up." he said. "He wants to speak with you."

My face darkened.

"Why? Why would I want to talk to that asshole?!" I asked.

"Look kid, calm down." he said. "Kevin's been through a lot."

"Yeah?!" I asked, standing up and getting into his face. "What makes you think I care?! He has no respect for me and he hates me!"

"Ben, please-"

"No! No pleas!" I exclaimed. "I will not go and talk to him!"

"Ben, just do it!" Old Man Ben said. "He just wants to talk to you!"

I gritted my teeth and growled with anger.

"Fine!" I said, as I pushed past him and into the living room.

I walked down the hall, towards the bedroom that they had put Old Man Kevin in. I walked into the room, with a scowl on my face.

"What the fuck do you want?" I asked.

"Whoa!" he said. "You sound angry!"

"Shut up, just shut up. I hate you, Kevin." I said. "I hate everything about you. Just get to the point."

Old Man Kevin just looked at me.

"I'm sorry." he said at last.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"I'm telling you that I'm sorry, kid. I didn't have the faith that you could do anything." he said. "But then you surprised me. You beat the shit out of me, kid. And I didn't think that you had it in you. So, I apologize."

"Is that it?" I asked.

"No kid, that's not it." Old Man Kevin said. "After you've shown me what you're capable of, after you beat the shit out of me, I'll follow you into battle."

"Um, I don't know what to say." I said, as my anger faded a little bit.

"Then don't say anything." he said. "You can go back to Old Man Ben now. That's all I wanted."

I looked at him some more, before turning and leaving the room.

 _Old Man Ben_

I stared down at Vilgax's broken, bleeding form. I pointed my Laser Pistol at his head ready to shoot him. I could shoot him. I _would_ shoot him. But something was stopping me. My ears were ringing, and I was hearing voices in my head.

"Old Man Ben!" someone called out to me.

I ignored the voice, as I continued staring at Vilgax's body, my finger on the trigger, ready to fire.

"Old Man Ben!" the voice called again.

I shook my head, as I shut my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, Vilgax was gone.

"Old Man Ben!" the voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm?" I asked, as I looked up at Ben. "I'm sorry?"

"I said your name three times, Old Man Ben." Ben said. "I just had a question for you."

"Go ahead." I said.

"I just wanted to ask, when we make the final assault on Vilgax's Tower, what will you say to make him stand down?" he asked.

I chuckled a little bit, as I looked down at the floor.

"For as long as I can remember, Vilgax has tried to take the Omnitrix, he's tried to endanger my friends, my family, the people I love, and as of late, he's taken the two people that I loved the most from me. But now, I have a way out of all of this." I said, as I looked back up at Ben, with anger in my eyes. "What in the fuck makes you think I'm going to ask him to surrender?"

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for another chapter! I think that I'm going to be ending this arc soon. I've been making longer chapters, so the storyline that I had planned out won't fit six or seven more chapters, unless I make the chapters pretty short, which I'm pretty sure you guys wouldn't want that. So, I'm cutting down the number of chapters to three to four.

* So, another Ben has been killed. I'm not sure if he'll be the last one to be killed off. I just haven't decided yet. Also, some of you may wonder how I can even kill off Teen Ben, since he's from the Alien Force and Ultimate Alien shows. Well, I've decided that Teen Ben, as he's called, is a version of Ben who ended up dying, leaving his story unfinished. And Kid Ben, being the original Ben from the original show, will eventually grow up to take that Ben's story.

* What did you think of the Rebel Alliance's confrontation with Vilgax? And about afterwards, what did you guys think of how Ben Prime just beat up Old Man Kevin? Did Kevin have it coming?

* Does anyone think that Ben Prime is crushing on Gwen 10? I won't say if he is or not, it's up to guys. But how Gwen 10 bandaged up his hands, that was a call back to when Gwen 10 did the same thing.

* Finally, at the end of the chapter, what was all that with Old Man Ben? That's a bit of a sneak peek to the coming chapters, as well as Old Man Ben is imagining what's coming.

*Anyway, that's all for now. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm going to go though, so have great day and bye!

Next Chapter: The final assault on Vilgax's Tower begins. Ben Prime takes a group out to one of Vilgax's last lines of defense.


	64. Chapter 63: Omniverse: Part 15

Chapter 63: Omniverse: Part Fifteen

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty Three!

* Not much to say here, other than the fact that there's most likely only a few chapters in Omniverse left. So, with that said, on with the chapter!

 _Albedo_

 _Old Man Ben's Childhood Home_

"No, no, no!" I said. "This one goes here, that one goes there!"

"Jesus Christ, man!" Emo Ben exclaimed, as he got up to look at me. "If you know where they go, then why don't you do it?"

"You're doing it because I'm telling you to!" I said. "And besides, I have to catalog all this stuff!"

"Jeez, you are such a buzzkill!" Emo Ben exclaimed. "Why are you in charge of this little operation anyway?"

"Um, because my brother tasked me with setting up the armory?" I asked.

"No, no, no, I get that. See, _why_ did he put you in charge? From my knowledge, it seems that you're infected with a virus that makes you really aggressive and unpredictable. So, why would he trust you with something as important as maintaining an armory?" Emo Ben asked. "It just doesn't make sense to me! See, I think we'd be much better off, if _I_ were setting up the armory, don't you think?"

I thought for a moment, about what to say in return. A few seconds later, I spoke.

"You know what?" I asked. "I fucking hate you."

"Yeah, it seems like we aren't getting along that well." Emo Ben said. "We should really work on that!"

"Oh Jesus," I said, as I turned away from him. "I really hope Ben is having better luck than I am, where he's at."

 _Ben_

 _Bellwood Ruins_

"Another one bites the dust! Another one bites the dust!" I sang, as danced back and forth in front of the captured knights. "We kicked your ass, bitch!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Gwen 10 said, walking over to me as she chuckled a little bit. "We wouldn't want to give these guys cruel and unusual punishment."

I turned to face Gwen 10 as I stopped singing and dancing.

"But we did kick their asses!" I exclaimed. "And who said it's not fun to rub a victory into your enemy's face?"

"No one!" she exclaimed. "You just took it a little too far! You don't have to embarrass them with fact that they lost the battle!"

"Aw, whatever!" I said, as I turned back to them. "Are we going to question them or what?"

"Go ahead!" she said.

I walked back over to the prisoners.

"Okay, you guys are going to tell me what it was you were doing here." I said.

No one said anything. I let out a sigh of anger.

"Okay guys, here is how this is going to work." I said. "Either you talk, or I can have my friends beat it out of you."

Gwen 10 cracked her knuckles, as WWII Ben opened up his pocket knife. Just then, I got a bit of an idea.

"Or, _I_ can beat it out of you." I said. "I think I've earned it."

The knight looked up at me, with a look of fear in his eyes.

"Well?" I asked in an impatient tone.

"Okay, okay! Emperor Vilgax sent us to this abandoned depot." he said. "The Emperor sent us here to retrieve a shipment of weapons that would have proved beneficial to you, if you would have gotten it."

 _Really? A weapons shipment? I smell bullshit._

I turned to Gwen 10.

"Hit him." I said.

Gwen 10 complied, punching the knight in the jaw. The knight groaned in pain, before looking back up at me.

"But it's true!" he said. "Look for yourself! Emperor Vilgax had us print off a paper containing the address of this depot, along with the details of the shipment."

The knight handed a folded up piece of paper to me, and I ripped it from his hands. I unfolded the paper and began to read it. The address was there, so it checked out.

"The Emperor wasn't surprised that your Rebel Alliance hadn't hit this place yet." the knight said.

I looked back at him.

"You know, because you guys are too dumb to even realize that this-"

"Hit him again." I said, as I turned around and walked away.

 _Albedo_

 _Old Man Ben's Childhood Home_

"What do you mean?" I asked Emo Ben.

"Think about it." he said. "The-"

"Hey, fellas!"

We both turned to see Goth Ben running up to us.

"How you guys doing today?" he asked.

Emo Ben and I exchanged glances, before turning back to look at him.

"Good morning, Goth Ben." I said. "What can we do for you?"

"Is the armory open?" he asked.

I nodded.

"It is." I said. "Would you like to make a weapon rental?"

"Yes I would! I need a Laser Rifle, I want to do some target practice!" he said.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that." I said.

"Why not?" he asked in an impatient tone.

"I can't let you do any target practice, I'm sorry." I said. "We have our orders to ration the ammo, or batteries that power the Rifles, whatever. They're low and we can't spare any just for you do to target practice. I'm sorry, again."

"Well, can't I at least walk around with one?" he asked. "Maybe patrol the outside?"

Before I could answer, Emo Ben spoke.

"So, Goth Ben, how are you adjusting to life here at the new Rebel Alliance Base?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, it's okay." Goth Ben said. "It'd be even better if we didn't have a jerk of a dumbass for a leader."

What he had to say infuriated me.

"Hey, rookie!" I said. "Did you just call my brother a dumbass?"

"No, I think he called him a jerk!" Emo Ben said.

"Tell you what, asshole." I said. "I could beat the shit out of you right here and right now, but as it turns out, I have an important job for you to do."

Goth Ben just looked me with fear.

"Listen; there is a box of comic books down in the basement, okay?" I said. "And it is vital that nothing happens to it, because if it does, we won't win here."

Emo Ben next to me was trying his best to maintain his giggles.

"We also have a general, who's going to come by and make sure the box is moved to a more secure location." I said. "And what I want _you_ to do, is go in the basement and stand guard near the box, just so you're ready for when he comes by. Run along now."

Goth Ben turned around and ran back towards the back sliding glass door. He turned around to look at us.

"How will I know if I see the general?" he asked.

"The Rebel Alliance are the only ones out here, Goth Ben." Emo Ben said. "He's going to be the person who doesn't look like one of us."

"Now get in there, and don't come out!" I exclaimed.

Once he was gone, I turned back to look at Emo Ben.

"Now, what were you trying to explain to me?" I asked.

"Um, that One More Day is essential to Spider-Man's comic history?" he said.

"No, it's not!" I said. "One More Day is very possibly the worst Spider-Man story to ever be created! Everyone hate's that story!"

"Dude, I'm telling you that One More Day was a fucking gift from God himself!" Emo Ben exclaimed. "Peter Parker and Mary Jane had to be split up! They weren't meant to be together, Peter Parker and _Gwen Stacy_ were meant to be together!"

"Are you even hearing yourself?! Gwen Stacy is dead, she wasn't coming back!" I said. "Not even a shitty rewrite like Brand New Day could bring her back!"

"Brand New Day was more than just a rewrite! It was what Spider-Man needed!" he said. "And she wasn't dead in the rewrite! Peter's entire continuity was rewritten! Uncle Ben died all over again, Peter was bitten by the spider all over again, he met Mary Jane all over again. Everything was done over!"

"Look, look, look. No. You aren't hearing yourself. Everything wasn't rewritten; you probably have a few things right." I said. "Imagine if Ben, _my_ Ben woke up one day without the Omnitrix and he had to relive everything, redo everything. Now _that_ would be a rewrite."

"Aw, whatever." Emo Ben said. "Anyway, Gwen Stacy isn't dead in the rewrite. The only stupid thing that happened to her was in the original continuity, where she went and got impregnated by Norman Osborn."

As soon as he began to mention it, I got pissed off.

"No! No! You don't get to mention Sins Past! I hate that comic book!" I exclaimed. "That's the worst Spider-Man story ever written!"

"Okay, okay, sorry!" Emo Ben said.

"Look, if you're thinking essential Spider-Man stories, you gotta think about stories like The Night Gwen Stacy Died, The Birth of Venom, and Death of Jean DeWolff." I said. "Stories like that."

"Like Kraven's Last Hunt?" he asked.

"Yeah man, there you go." I said.

"Man, I loved the way Mark Bagley and all those guys drew Venom when David Michelinie and Peter David wrote The Amazing Spider-Man." he said.

"Yeah, they were legends alright." I said. "And don't ever let Ben hear you say that One More Day is an essential Spider-Man story. It's not his favorite. Far from it actually. He ever tell you that his favorite Spider-Man story is Clone Saga?"

"Clone Saga? Not _The Clone Saga_?" Emo Ben asked in shock.

"No, no, no! Not _The Clone Saga!_ The Ultimate Clone Saga! As in the Ultimate Universe?" I asked.

"Oh, right. Man, R.I.P. Ultimate Peter Parker." Emo Ben said. "R.I.P. the Ultimate Universe, too."

"Yeah, it was a sad time alright. But anyway, the Original Clone Saga was a disaster. Don't bring up the fact that Earth-1610 doesn't exist anymore while you around him. He hates it when someone mentions it. He invested so much money into making his Ultimate Spider-Man collection." I said. "Although I admit that the ideas of Kaine and Ben Reilly are cool, the fact that apparently Ben Reilly was the original Peter Parker was _hated_. Thank God they rewrote it. Did I mention that this was time when Marvel was threatened with bankruptcy?"

"Oh, right. I forgot about that. Ben has a Ultimate Spider-Man collection?" Emo Ben asked. "Are we talking exclusively comic books here or what?"

"No. It wasn't just comic books. He also has a copy of the Ultimate Spider-Man video game adaptation for the original Xbox." I said. "Which he isn't as fond of as he is the comic books."

"How do you know all of this?" he asked. "You seem to have a decent amount of knowledge about Ben's stuff and his life, for someone who isn't Ben. And from what he's told us, you haven't been around all that long."

"Yeah, I haven't been around that long. I've only been around for two weeks or more." I said. "I'm still having trouble distinguishing which memories are mine and which are his."

"How many of his memories do you have?" Emo Ben asked.

"All of them up till the point of my birth." I said.

"Oh, okay. Well, moving on then, I guess." he said.

"Yep." I replied in return.

"Hey, Albedo!" I heard Goth Ben call from behind me. "I just wanted to say sorry for calling your brother a dumbass!"

I had my back to him. I didn't even turn to face him, because hearing his voice again just pissed me off. I kept my back to him as I spoke.

"Dear God in heaven rookie, if I turn around and you are not inside," I spoke. "I-I can't be held responsible for what I'm going to do to you!"

"What? Why?" he asked.

"One!"

"Oh, come on!" Goth Ben exclaimed.

"Two!"

I heard him turn back around and shuffle back inside. I turned around and saw that he was gone. I turned to look at Emo Ben.

"Man, that guy is dumber than you are!" I said.

"You mean he's dumber _than you are_!" he retaliated.

"Wow Emo Ben," I said. "That was a great comeback!"

 _Ben_

 _Bellwood Ruins_

Gwen 10, WWII Ben and I walked into the abandoned weapons depot. WWII Ben flipped the light switch, but nothing happened.

"No lights." he said.

"You really thought the lights would work?" I asked. "Vilgax dropped bombs all across the world, including this place. Do you really believe that there's power here still?"

"There's only one place in Bellwood that still has power." Gwen 10 said. "And that's Vilgax's Tower, thanks to his high tech generators that he brought with him."

"Yeah, well that'll be changing soon." I said. "Flashlights, people!"

I tossed a flashlight to Gwen 10 and WWII Ben, while I grabbed my flashlight from my belt. I began to walk around what would be considered the warehouse floor, I suppose.

"Spread out a little, but don't go too far." I said. "Let's see what we can find."

"Yes, Sir." Gwen 10 and WWII Ben said in unison.

I walked off by myself and started to see huge crates of some kind.

 _Maybe they weren't lying._

I approached the first crate I saw and saw that there was no lock of any kind on it. I cautiously opened it and shined my flashlight inside of it. What I saw made my jaw drop. On the inside, were stacks and stacks, I assumed anyway, of boxes full of the batteries that powered the Laser Rifles and Laser Pistols we had back home.

"Holy shit." I said.

I grabbed one of them and picked it up, just to get a sense of how many were inside. It didn't weigh that much, maybe two or three pounds, but when I shook it, I didn't hear the batteries roll around or shake on the inside, so the box must have been full of them.

"Hey, Ben!" I heard Gwen 10 call from the other side of the warehouse. "You better come take a look at this.

I looked in the direction of her voice and began to jog over. I jogged until I found them.

"What is it?" I asked.

"This crate." WWII Ben spoke. "It has a lock on it. I'd bet there's something important in it."

I looked at them.

"How do we get the lock off?" she asked.

I looked at them, as I pulled a hammer from the tool belt that Old Man Ben had lent me.

"I think I have a way." I said as I grinned, before hitting the lock with the blunt end of the hammer.

They all looked away, I guess not to get hit by any metal or something. They looked back once the lock was beaten off by the third hit.

"Jesus, Ben." Gwen 10 said as she looked at me.

"Oh, cry me a river." I said, as I reached for the crate's lid. "Let's see what's inside, shall we?"

I opened up the crate and we looked inside, stunned by what we saw. There were stacks upon stacks, upon more stacks of boxes, carrying Laser Rifles, Laser Pistols and some kind of other weapon that I didn't recognize.

"Holy fuck." I said.

"Language." WWII Ben said.

"Bite me! You're in the military, and I respect that." I said. "However, _I'm not_ in the military, and nor would I ever want to be. It's not for everyone and it's definitely not for me."

"What makes you think it has to do with the military?" he asked. "I just don't like it when people use foul language."

"Oh, shut up." I said.

"Guys." Gwen 10 said.

We both looked at her.

"The Alliance could use all of these Pistols and Rifles." she said. "But how are we going to carry all of it?"

"Yeah." I said. "You're right. Look, I know that these are Pistols and Rifles, but what's the other weapon?"

"I, uh, yeah, I do know what it is!" she said. "Old Man Ben told me about these. We had a fighter use one of these things, before he was killed in battle, and we lost it. It's called a Laser Launcher."

"A Laser Launcher?" I asked. "What does it do?"

"It fires a big ball of some kind. And when the ball lands, it fires lasers in virtually every possible direction. If someone hasn't take cover behind something, they're as good as dead."

"Eh, sounds like something from Fallout." I said.

"What's Fallout?" WWII Ben asked.

I turned to look at him.

"Fallout?" I asked. "The video game franchise?"

He shook his head.

"It's a game series that takes place in an alternate history, where after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombings, -" I stopped once I realized it.

"Shit." I said. "The bombs were never dropped in your timeline, were they?"

He shook his head.

"And that means you never experienced the Red Scare either." I said.

"What's the Red Scare?" he asked.

"Forget it." I said.

"So, how do we get this haul back?" Gwen 10 asked.

"Right. The knights had several duffel bags with them. We'll use them all." I said. "We're most low on the batteries, and the crate I found had nothing but batteries in it. We'll stuff two of the bags as much as we can with those batteries. After that, we'll use the remaining ones to fill them with Pistols and Rifles. We'll take one Launcher, too."

"And the knights?" WWII Ben asked.

"We'll send them home. Back to Vilgax." I said. "I want him to know that we beat them here."

"But they'll just strike as soon as he finds out!" Gwen 10 said.

"No they, won't." I said. "Because, we'll strike first."

They exchanged glances, looks of concern, but eventually nodded.

"Let's get to it." I said, as I walked away.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for another chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed!

* What did you think of the interactions between Albedo and Emo Ben? I think the dynamic thing about their relationship, is that they hate each other. More refences to Spider-Man is always good, that is if you're a fan. And a small reference to Fallout. It was also nice to learn a little more about WWII Ben's home dimension, the fact that their version of the U.S. never experienced the Red Scare and the Cold War.

* Also, the line that Albedo uses at the very beginning of the chapter? That's a reference to The Empire Strikes Back, where Han Solo says pretty much the same thing.

* One last thing. This chapter was supposed to be out Friday, May 18th. But before I could post it, my computer died. Not like it's battery died, it died all together. Luckily, I was able to get all of my important stuff off of it. So, I'm using my dad's laptop to post this and I will be using it for the time being. So, that's what's been going on.

* That's going to do it for me; I'll see you in the next chapter! Have a great day and bye!

Next Chapter: The final assault on Vilgax's Tower begins. Emperor Vilgax's once mighty empire comes crumbling down. In the aftermath of the final battle, the Rebel Alliance meets a time walker. Ben makes the ultimate sacrifice.


	65. Chapter 64: Omniverse: Part 16

Chapter 64: Omniverse: Part Sixteen

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

 _*_ Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty Four!

* So, this is the big confrontation that the entire arc has been leading up to. The final battle! I've been so excited to bring this chapter to you guys!

* So, without anything left for me to say, the chapter begins!

 _Ben_

 _Vilgax's Tower, Bellwood Ruins_

I stared up at Vilgax's Tower, in awe. It was not the first time I had seen his Tower, but I was still just as shocked to see it as the first time I had seen it. I looked at Old Man Ben.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Everyone is ready, Sir." He said. "Once the gates fall, we move in. Then, I'll do my thing."

I turned to look at the group behind me. They were all there. Gwen 10, Kid Ben, Punk Rock Ben, Emo Ben, WWII Ben, Benita, Kirby Tennyson, Albedo and Old Man Kevin. Those were all of the Bens that were with us. Cooper was also with us, providing technical support. He instructed me in where to place the charges on Vilgax's wall.

Goth Ben stayed behind to protect Julie, while she looked after Little Kenny. I looked at Cooper and he nodded at me, his detonator in his hand.

"I'm ready whenever you are, boss." He said.

I nodded before I looked back at the entire group.

"Okay guys. Here's how this is going to go. Cooper is going to blow the charges, the gates are going to fall and then we're going to move in." I said. "And then, Old Man Ben is going to get Vilgax's attention. Whatever happens after that is up to you. I cannot predict your movements. But I can predict one thing. Today, Vilgax dies."

No one said a word.

"Okay then." I said as I turned back to look at Cooper. "Everyone get to cover. Cooper, once everyone is out of sight, blow the charges."

"You got it, boss." He said as I walked away and took cover behind a ruined car.

Gwen 10 waited for me there.

"You really think that we're all ready for this?" she asked me.

I looked back at her.

"Don't. The others don't need to hear you say that." I said.

She said nothing else after that. I watched the gates, waiting for the impending explosion.

 _Come on, Cooper. Where are the fireworks?_

Just then, the wall went up in flames as the charges on the gates exploded, tearing and stretching the steel gates beyond recognition. When the smoke and the flames cleared, the gates had been permanently bent open.

After that, a roar erupted from the many different Bens that had been hiding, as we all charged inside of the compound, gunning down any knights that were in our way. After the courtyard had been cleared, Old Man Ben wasted no time in firing a few shots up to the balcony at the top of the Tower.

It took a minute or two, but eventually the man himself stepped out onto the balcony. And when he spoke, even though he was at least forty or more stories up, because of how quiet the dead city was, we could hear him. He just laughed as he looked down at us.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me. This, _this_ is what you could come up with, Tennyson?" he called down to us. "I'm disappointed! I expected better from you!"

"He's not in charge anymore! _I_ am!" I called up to him.

Vilgax brought his attention to me.

"Kid, shut the fuck up. I'll get to you." He said. "Right now, I'm talking to the big man. Tennyson, what do you think you're doing leading all of these kids to their deaths? Are you crazy?"

"I'm going to give you till the count of ten to get down here so I can kill you!" Old Man Ben called up to him.

Vilgax just smiled from where he was at.

"One, Two, Ten!" Old Man Ben counted, before he began firing his Laser Pistol up at Vilgax.

Vilgax ducked and dodged all of the shots, as he moved back inside of the Tower. Old Man Ben cursed himself, as he threw the Laser Pistol to the ground in frustration. He turned to face me with anger.

"How?!" he shouted with anger. "I had him right where I wanted him! How did I miss?!"

"Don't worry Old Man Ben, we'll get him eventually." I said.

Just then, I heard the sound of multiple intercoms turning on.

"I doubt your ability to get past my defenses." Vilgax said over the intercom, as a knight manned each turret in front of the double doors to the Tower.

They didn't fire, as Vilgax continued speaking.

"But if you think it's worth getting yourselves killed just to get to me, then by all means, give it a shot! I wasn't lying Tennyson, I left my front door unlocked!" he exclaimed. "Try to make your way up to my throne room, Tennyson. I double-dog dare ya!"

The intercom shut off and we looked at the turrets.

"Move! Now!" I exclaimed, as the turrets began firing.

 _Yesterday_

 _Old Man Ben's Childhood Home_

"Wait. You want to what?" Old Man Ben asked me.

"I don't want to blow up the Tower." I said.

"Why not, kid? If we don't blow up the Tower, then we won't be sure that Vilgax will die!" he said.

"Think of it this way. Wouldn't you rather face him and kill him, knowing that he wouldn't be coming back," I spoke. "Opposed to blowing up the damn thing, not knowing whether you got him or not?"

Old Man Ben put his finger on his chin, as he thought about it. He let out a sigh.

"You make a compelling argument." He said at last.

"Thank you, Sir." I said.

"Don't call me "Sir". We both know that you're in charge now." He said. "Go. Go get the group together and tell them what's going to happen."

I nodded and ran out of the ruined house.

 _Sometime Later_

I paced back and forth in front of the group of Rebels in front of me. I looked up at them as I stopped my pacing.

"The time is coming, ladies and germs." I said. "Tomorrow we strike at the heart. At Vilgax's Tower."

"Just like that? We're just going to attack a fortress?" Emo Ben asked.

"Just like that. We're not going to blow up the Tower, either." I said. "We'd just be playing it safe if we did that. We wouldn't even be sure if he were dead or not. We're going to assault the Tower. If any of his knights surrender, then good. That's what we want. We're not there for them, we're there for him. To make sure he dies."

They all looked at each other, as they spoke amongst themselves. Emo Ben finally looked at me.

"But, wouldn't it be better if we didn't do that, Sir?" he asked.

"Look, I understand that you're all scared. Trust me, I am, too." I said. "But we have to strike first; we can't give him the chance. We can't be scared, and we can't play it safe. So are you going to be a coward and sit here with the plan to just blow up his Tower, or are you going to get a little reckless?"

They all began to look at each other. Eventually, Albedo stepped forward.

"This may be a stupid plan, and your stupid plan may get us all killed." He said, as he put his hand on mine. "But you can count me in."

"Me, too." Gwen 10 said, as she approached us and put her hand on ours.

"Tomorrow, Vilgax dies!" I exclaimed.

After that, cheers erupted from the crowd and I smiled, confident in the fact that we stood a chance.

 _Present Day_

 _Vilgax's Tower, Bellwood Ruins_

I hid behind a slab of concrete as the constant laser fire from the turret bombarded us. I heard Gwen 10 calling to me.

"Hey Ben!" she called to me.

I looked over to where she sat in cover.

"You think _now_ is a good time to use that new alien of yours?" she called.

 _Good of a time as any._

I activated the Omnitrix and moved the ring until I spotted the silhouette of the alien I had accidentally discovered just yesterday. I slammed down on the ring and began to transform. As my arms grew in size with my torso, a flash of green light occurred.

Once the flash had subsided, I stood there as a burly, orange and white alien, with sharp talon-like nails. I got down on all fours and began to spin up, eventually going into a somersault over to the turret on the left of the door.

The knight on the rightmost turret was distracted by what I did and left himself open to be shot at. Once he was out of the way, I spun backwards towards my teammates, before spinning back towards the knight I had hit. I nailed him and sent us through the metal double doors of the Tower, easily breaking them down.

I had discovered this new alien while I was fiddling with the Omnitrix yesterday after I had made my address. With the original ten aliens that this thing had on it, along with that weird vine alien I had changed into to save Gwen and Ken a few weeks back, who knew how many other aliens this thing had?

I came out of the somersault and wobbled on my legs, struggling to maintain my balance in my new form. The knight got up, ready to fight me. Before he could even through a punch, I kicked him backwards, sending him back to the ground.

"I suggest you run." I said, as I looked down at him.

I received a look of fear in return, before he got up and took my advice, running in the opposite direction. I changed back to my human form, as I grinned.

"He's not much, but that new alien is kinda cool." I said, as I looked down at the Omnitrix. "I think I'll call him "Cannonbolt."

 _Old Man Ben_

I walked into Vilgax's Tower, along with the rest of the Alliance. I pulled the spare Laser Pistol from my belt, to get ready.

"Where should we start?" Ben asked.

"I think we should spread out through the entire floor." Gwen 10 spoke. "Take any of the knights who surrender as prisoners. The less people we have to kill, the better."

"She's right." Ben said. "Everyone get into groups of two or three. Try to get as many knights as you can to surrender. If they won't cooperate, you know what to do."

I walked past the group, Laser Pistol in my hand.

"I'm going straight in." I said, as I continued walking.

"Old Man Ben?" Ben asked me with worry.

I turned around to look at him.

"Do what you will. Take prisoners, kill them all, do what you want." I said. "Just leave Vilgax to me. The so called Emperor son of a bitch is mine. He owes me his death."

I turned back around and continued to walk further in.

"It's been a long time coming." I said.

 _Ben_

Old Man Ben had walked away and was out of sight only a few minutes ago. Gwen 10, Albedo and I headed off from the rest of the crew. I had instructed them all to clear the entirety of the first floor, preferably by getting the knights to stand down. They had also been told to kill only if there were no other choice.

We crept through the dimly lit halls of the Tower, ducked down to prevent being seen through any windows. Albedo or Gwen 10 must have stood up at some point, because a glass window above us shattered from laser fire.

I cursed with frustration as we ducked down to the ground. The fire continued for a few seconds before stopping, and then there was nothing but silence. We all looked at each other, unsure of what to do. I finally worked up the courage to speak.

"Listen! We don't want to kill you, but believe me, we will!" I exclaimed.

I nodded to Albedo and Gwen 10, as we got our weapons ready and rose to look into the room. Four knights stared back at us, pointing their weapons at us in fear.

"Put down your weapons now, and I promise that we won't hurt you." I said.

One of them didn't listen. They fired without question, hitting Albedo in the chest and sending him to the floor. I watched in shock, as he fell down. As much as I wanted to check on him, I shot the knight who shot Albedo. I hit him in the hand and he dropped his weapon, giving up and putting his hands above his head. The other knights soon followed suit.

"Okay, you are to report to the courtyard, where you will be grouped with your fellow-" I spoke, before hearing a growl behind me.

I turned with shock, to see that Albedo had drastically changed. He had long, dirty gray hair, with long sideburns as well. As he got up on all fours, I noticed that his nails had been sharpened and that his hands were covered with gray hair. The last thing I noticed before he leapt from his spot on the floor was that he had black eyes, as if he had no soul.

He howled with anger as he leapt from the floor and perched himself the ledge, which had been provided by the now-broken window. The four knights yelled with fear, as Albedo got ready to leap again.

"What the fuck is that thing?!" one of them asked with fear.

And then Albedo spoke in a deep voice, that didn't sound like him at all.

"I am Lord Transyl!" he exclaimed, before leaping from the ledge.

He landed on one of the knights' chest and sent him to the floor, as he dug his newfound fangs into the knight's neck, spilling a lot of blood. The knight howled with pain, as I continued to watch Albedo feast on him. Well, it's what I saw, anyway. I was finally brought to my senses and spoke.

"Albedo, that's enough!" I exclaimed.

He got off of the knight and spun around to face me. He got onto all fours once more and lunged at me. I dodged his attack, which sent him headfirst into a wall. I grabbed him and effortlessly picked him up from the floor.

"I don't know who you are or what you did to my brother, but I am a hell of a lot meaner than you are!" I exclaimed, as I slugged Albedo in the jaw.

It _wasn't_ Albedo, but I didn't know what else to refer to it as. He fell to the floor once more, and while he was down, I got down with him and got him into a headlock.

"Come on man, don't make me do this!" I pleaded with him, as tears threatened to come to my eyes.

Albedo just snarled as he tried to break out of the headlock.

"Snap out of it!" I snapped angrily.

After that, the struggling ceased. A few seconds after, and I freed Albedo from the lock. He pushed his back up against the wall and brought his knees to his chest.

"Albedo?" I asked. "What's your name?"

He looked up at me, soulless black eyes looking back into mine.

"Lord Transyl." He said, in an almost hypnotized voice.

I just looked at him. Eventually, he blinked and his pulsing red eyes looked back at me this time.

"Albedo." He said.

I just stared at him, frowning.

"What? You asked what my name was and I said "Albedo"." He said.

 _He doesn't remember any of that, does he?_

I shook my head.

"Get up, brother." I said, as I stuck my hand out as I stood up myself.

He took my hand and stood up with me.

"We should send him outside. After a stunt like that, we can't trust him." Gwen 10 said.

I shook my head, turning to face her.

"As much as I agree with you, only I can keep an eye on him." I said. "I can't risk sending him out there and he transforms again to go off on his lonesome. He stays."

"Wait, I transformed?!" Albedo asked in shock.

 _Yeah, he doesn't remember anything._

"We'll talk about it later." I said, as I moved forward, back to the window.

The remaining three knights looked at me in fear.

"Are you going to surrender now?" I asked.

They all nodded.

"Okay then. You are to proceed to the courtyard with your fellow prisoners." I said. "Don't underestimate me when I say that if just one of you attempts to retaliate, we will kill you all. Don't make me do that. Go now."

They all ran out of the room and the way we came. I nodded for Gwen 10 and Albedo to follow me.

"Let's go." I said, as I walked away from the room.

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Half An Hour Later_

I readied my weapon as I approached the double doors to Vilgax's Throne Room. I cautiously reached for the door opener and slowly opened it. Once I looked inside, it looked as though the room were vacant.

Just then, I heard a yell of rage and I looked to my right, to see Vilgax running towards me with a battle axe of some kind. I sidestepped, causing his axe to get stuck in one of the doors.

"Easy there, buddy." Vilgax said, as we moved in a clockwise fashion, staying at least five or six feet apart. "There's no need for violence."

"That's what you think." I spoke. "Tell your men to surrender. As long as I get to kill you, no one else has to die."

"Man, do you even hear yourself?" Vilgax asked. "I'll tell my men to surrender when we're in hell."

"Suit yourself." I said, as I got my fists ready for a fight.

"Go home Ben. Go home and wait for us to arrive." He said. "Once we arrive, you can surrender and this will be over. You'll get to work for me and in return, I can promise you that no one else will die."

"I will not surrender." I said. "You're full of shit if that's what you think I came here for."

"What a pity. In that case, no more talking." He said. "I think we both know how this is going to end. So, are you ready?"

"Oh, I'm ready." I said. "Question is, are _you_ ready, you dictator motherfucker?"

Vilgax just laughed.

"Oh, I love it when they go down fighting." He said.

We both exchanged roars of rage, as we sprinted towards one another.

 _Ben_

 _Half An Hour Later_

We had finally cleared out the first floor. We had groups of armed men escorting the knights out and into the courtyard. It was looking good. I could only imagine how scared Vilgax could be right now, seeing that his Empire would be come crashing down today.

And we had the rest of the men that we could spare, escorting all knights from the upper floors down to the first floor. It was really working. Vilgax would die today, and his Empire wouldn't be around to save him.

I turned to my right, to see Gwen 10 running up to me.

"Sir, this was all too easy! I felt as though we've done nothing!" she said.

"Yeah, it was a little easy, wasn't it?" I asked.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"We proceed to the top floor. We see if Old Man Ben has succeeded, or failed." I said.

She nodded, and proceeded to form a small group.

 _Old Man Ben_

Vilgax and I kept fighting. We both took a few steps away from each other for a breather.

"What's the matter, old timer?" he asked. "Are you getting tired?"

I wiped the blood from my lips, as I raised my fists once more.

"Speak for yourself." I said. "I could do this all day."

He just chuckled, before he threw a punch at me. I dodged his strike. But when he went to hit me again, he nailed me. And then he did it again. And again. And again. Until I was lying on the floor, beaten and bruised, my lips dripping with blood, and my nose running with blood as well.

He just laughed as he looked at me down on the ground.

"Look at yourself, Ben. You're just a tired old man. A sad old man." He said. "Did you really think that you could best me? Give up, Ben. Give up and I promise that your death will be swift."

I got up on my knee and laughed as Vilgax backed away with caution.

"What on Earth could possibly be funny?" he asked.

"I didn't have to beat you." I said, as I looked up at him, still laughing with glee.

He just stared at me.

"All I had to do was get close enough to you." I said.

Before he could say anything, I made my move. Once Vilgax promoted himself to Emperor, once he ascended to near deity status, he stopped wearing armor. His chest was exposed. And I took advantage of that. I produced a Bowie Knife out from my thigh and stabbed Vilgax in the stomach.

Vilgax gasped, as he backed up, with me pushing the blade further into his flesh, his green blood beginning to flow from the wound. I began to twist the blade, making the wound worse. I pulled the knife out, the blade covered with his blood.

Vilgax gasped once more, as he touched his own wound, as he fell down onto the floor. I dropped the blood-covered knife and approached Vilgax's dying form. I pulled my Laser Pistol from my belt and pointed the barrel towards his head, ready to fire at any moment. Minutes passed, and I didn't fire.

"Come on, Old Man Ben!" I heard Ben exclaim. "Kill him!"

I turned to look Ben, Gwen 10, Albedo, Emo Ben and Cooper standing there. I turned back to Vilgax, as he lay on the ground and pointed my Pistol back at his head. My finger was hovering above the trigger and I was ready to fire. But then, something unexpected happened.

I began to see Gwen. My happiest memories with her flashed right before my eyes. I saw her stunning face, her pristine smile. I remembered every time we kissed, all the times we laughed together, the times she kicked my ass in a first-person shooter game, all of the good times.

And then, of course, I remembered all of the bad times. All the times we fought, the time I quit the Omnitrix, much to her dismay, after a death in the family. And of course, the worst part was when we broke up for about a week before my eighteenth birthday. And then, the very worst of my memories. After she died.

How I cradled her lifeless body, holding her cold hand, crying as I did such. But, I was over it now. I knew that she wasn't ever going to come back and I wanted to accept that. But something was holding me back.

I began to tear up, as I stared down at Vilgax, still not firing my weapon. Gwen's smiling face began to flash before my eyes, as tears rolled down my cheeks.

 _You don't have to kill anyone, Ben,_ her voice spoke in my mind.

Her voice continued to resonate within my mind, along with the image of her and her smile. I gave up. I dropped the weapon without firing. I turned to face the Alliance.

"Save him." I said. "Do whatever you have to, just save him."

"What? No! He has to die!" Ben exclaimed. "He has to pay for his crimes!"

"And he will, Ben! I promise! But we won't kill him!" I exclaimed, as I looked at him. "We won't kill him, because we wouldn't be any better than him! Don't you see, now that it's over, there doesn't have to be any more fighting!"

No one said a word.

"He is going to spend the rest of his life in a cell for his crimes against humanity!" I said. "He's fucked! He's not going anywhere!"

Everyone looked at each other, eventually nodding.

"Keeping him alive and jailed is the humane thing to do." I said.

Everyone looked back at me.

"I realize that I've fallen behind on some things. I've left my son behind to kill my worst enemy. But to do the right thing, sacrifices have to be made. People have to give up their dreams. And my dream was to kill Vilgax." I said. "But now, with this sad fuck locked behind a door for his entire life, I can begin to rectify some inequities, beginning with raising my son like a father should raise a son!"

Ben eventually looked at Gwen 10 and Emo Ben.

"Patch him up." He said. "Then get him out of here. I want him restrained on a metal slab until Old Man Ben knows what to do with him."

I let out a sigh, as I walked towards the doors to Vilgax's balcony. I opened the doors and stepped out, putting my hands on the railing as I took a breath of fresh air. Just then, for the first time in three decades, the clouds opened up and the sun began to shine down onto the ruined city.

 _My mercy prevails over my wrath,_ Gwen spoke in my head.

I sighed as I looked down at the floor.

"Thank you, Gwen." I said, as tears of joy flowed freely down my cheeks.

 _Ben_

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

We had gotten Vilgax down to the courtyard. He had been restrained to a metal slab from the gates, and we got him down to the courtyard, using an alien the rest of the crew called "Wildvine".

We all stood back in the Throne Room, waiting for Old Man Ben to tell us what came next. We were going to party our asses off tonight, that was for sure. I didn't plan on going back home for another couple days at least.

We just stood there, waiting for Old Man Ben to say something. In my waiting, I noticed some kind of metal rod, sitting in the corner, leaning on Vilgax's Throne. It was at least three or four feet tall, with a blue crystal embedded in the stone at the top. There were also silver wings, which arced backwards, their tips pointing to the crystal. It now dawned on me that it was a staff of some kind.

And then it happened. I heard the cackling. The cackling of the thing that brought me here. Goosebumps began to form on my skin and I went pale. I felt cold. Just then, Ghostfreak appeared out of nowhere, obviously having been invisible for a time. He grabbed the staff and used it to open what looked to be a portal.

He was obviously going to go through it, but I couldn't let him do it. I ran over to him.

"Oh no, you don't!" I exclaimed. "Get back here!"

Ghostfreak just cackled at me.

"Bye-bye!" he called, before disappearing through the portal, taking the staff with him.

I reached through the portal, and by some miracle was able to grab the staff. I began to pull on it, attempting to pull him back through the portal. Eventually, the staff came back, but Ghostfreak was gone and the portal closed.

"Damn it." I cursed myself.

I stood up, to look at the staff. Before I could get a better look at it, I heard a voice.

"That is my staff, you're holding." A voice boomed. "Drop my staff, kid."

I looked around in confusion. The rest of the Alliance looked up, apparently hearing it as well.

"Um, who are you?" I asked out loud.

"Drop my staff!" the voice boomed even louder this time.

I dropped the staff and backed up away from it. Just then, a man appeared out of thin air. He was wearing black dress shoes, tan colored slacks, a business shirt with a black tie and the kind of white lab coat that scientists wore. He also had well kept black hair and green eyes.

"I am Professor Paradox." The man said. "And I am a time walker."

"A time walker?" I asked. "What's that?"

"I maintain the balance of the time flow, while looking over the events of many different time periods." He said. "I stay and watch from the shadows, only getting involved when the dimensions absolutely need my help or when a "reward" has been earned."

"Where are you from?" Gwen 10 asked.

"I am from everywhere and nowhere." Professor Paradox said. "My original name lost to the passage of time. I have achieved deity status and now use my power to watch over the many different dimensions and their timelines."

He put his hand out and the staff, I assumed was his, flew into his hand. The crystal began to glow bright blue and blue lightning arced all around Professor Paradox, his eyes turning blue as he came into contact with the staff. He eventually continued speaking, his eyes returning to their original color.

"The creature you know as "Ghostfreak" stole my Time Staff while I was in a rest cycle." He said. "That is how he was able to pull each and every one of you from your respective dimensions. And now that I have it back, I believe a reward is in order for your help."

I looked at the group and no one dared say a word.

"Who's in charge of this little band?" he asked.

"Go ahead, Ben." Gwen 10 said. "This is your show after all."

I looked at her and she nodded at me. I eventually nodded back to her in a nervous manner, before turning back to Professor Paradox and stepped closer to him.

"What kind of reward?" I asked.

"As long as it deals with the passage of time, I can do anything you ask me to." He said. "The only rule is that I cannot destroy a timeline. There are no other rules."

I thought about it for a while. I thought about asking him to take me home, but I knew that Old Man Ben could eventually send me home. And then, when I thought of Gwen 10, I thought of the perfect thing.

"Can you bring people back from the dead?" I asked.

"Of course I can." Professor Paradox said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

I turned to look at Gwen 10, with a smile on my face. To my surprise, she frowned back at me. She shook her head in anger. Her eyes immediately told me. It's as if she was speaking to me.

 _No. Not me, not him. Someone here needs this gift more than I do,_ her eyes told me.

I finally looked at Old Man Ben and then back at her. Gwen 10 nodded, with a smile on her face now. I had made up my mind. I turned around to face Professor Paradox. I took a breath before I spoke.

"Professor Paradox, I want you to bring Old Man Ben's Gwen back from the dead." I said.

"Done." He said.

He closed his eyes, as the crystal on his staff glowed once more. He opened his eyes and I saw that they were blue again. Energy began to arc off of the crystal. Then, Professor Paradox snapped his fingers.

A dim orange glow began to appear in the middle of the room. The glow grew brighter and brighter, until it stopped. The glow began to retract back into the air from which it had come, if that makes sense.

Standing where the glow had once been, was a middle-aged woman. She had fiery red hair. And I could tell that it was Old Man Ben's Gwen. I saw a light spot on her neck, which looked like a bite mark. But, it was barely noticeable, as if it were a phantom mark. Yeah, a phantom mark. I like that.

Gwen looked dazed, confused. She had no idea where she was. She eventually looked up and around the room. I saw her emerald eyes, which confirmed it even more if need be.

"Gwen?" Old Man Ben asked in a teary voice.

Gwen turned to look at him.

"Ben?" she asked in a surprised tone.

Old Man Ben wasted no time in walking over to her and kissing her on the lips. I watched as she eagerly returned his kiss. I smiled as I crossed my arms over my chest, satisfied with what I had done today.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that is it for another chapter!

* Come on, tell me what you think! Old Man Ben's Gwen is back from the dead, which brings us full circle. Gwen dies at eighteen, a young Old Man Ben marries Kai Greene to keep his sanity, Albedo and Kai die, which sends Old Man Ben off of the deep end, Old Man Ben refuses to kill Vilgax when all of his memories of Gwen come back to haunt him, and finally, Gwen is reincarnated as a middle-aged version of herself, which ultimately saves Old Man Ben from himself.

* I knew from the very beginning that I'd bring Gwen back from the dead. I mean, come on! If Kai dying doesn't tell you anything, you have to have predicted her eventual return. So, did anyone think she would come back?

* So, Ben has transformed into Cannonbolt for the first time on paper. What do you guys think?

* This next section is mainly for csgt. You asked me a few months ago if Lord Transyl will be appearing in the story, and this is my answer! You can ask any questions about Albedo calling himself "Lord Transyl" after undergoing that metamorphosis, but I won't answer any questions. I will say that this isn't the last time Lord Transyl will appear as just a name… or as a fully fledged person…

* What did everyone think of the sequence where Old Man Ben began to remember Gwen? Was it tear-jerking? How about his speech/reasoning for not killing Vilgax?

* And finally, Professor Paradox. He's the one who brought Gwen back, as a reward to the Rebel Alliance for inadvertently recovering his staff. What do you think of his character and of what he did for Old Man Ben?

* Anyway, that's going to do it this time! I really hope you did enjoy this chapter! I'm going to go, so have a great day and bye!

Next Chapter: The Rebel Alliance throws a huge party in the wake of their victory. Despite previous notions, Albedo returns home early. Ghostfreak strikes back.


	66. Chapter 65: Omniverse: Part 17

Chapter 65: Omniverse: Part Seventeen

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty Five!

* So, Old Man Ben's Gwen is back from the dead. And in my opinion, it's for the best. Now that she's back, Old Man Ben can get his sanity back once more. But anyway, as I said in the last chapter, the Rebel Alliance will be partying in this chapter. They've earned it.

* Anyway, I won't be saying anything else. The chapter begins!

 _Old Man Ben_

 _Vilgax's Tower, Bellwood Ruins_

I was in awe. I never thought that I'd be able to kiss and hold Gwen again. And yet, here she was, right in front of me. I was grateful for what Ben had done. He used what could have been his wish to bring my girlfriend back from the dead.

He could have asked to go back home to his dimension, which I planned on doing within the next couple days, but he didn't. He gave up what he wanted, what any one of the other Bens would have wanted.

I pulled away from my kiss with Gwen. I looked at her and she just stared back at me. I finally let out a sigh of contentment as I pulled her closer to me so that I could hug her. She returned the hug without hesitation. She eventually spoke.

"Ben, I missed you so much." She finally said.

"Shh, I know, I know." I said, as I continued to hold her.

I snuck a glance over to Ben, to see him smiling his with his arms crossed over his chest. I smiled back with gratitude, to which he nodded at me. I turned my head back to the previous position and gently ran my nose along Gwen's neck. Gwen let out a sigh as I had only a minute ago, as she continued to hold me.

 _Ben_

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

Old Man Ben and his Gwen had been reunited. I was satisfied with what I had done. Now, he sat with her by the doors to the balcony, with Gwen 10 as she helped him explain what had happened in the three decades that she had been gone.

I stood on the other end of the room, talking with Albedo and Emo Ben about comic book stuff. I let out a sigh of disappointment as I looked at Emo Ben.

"You like One More Day." I said. "This doesn't seem physically possible."

"Nonsense! One More Day is an essential story in -" Emo Ben was speaking, but I interrupted him.

"Scurry on out of here I have Albedo toss you off of the balcony." I said. "Or I could do it myself. Whatever you prefer."

"But-" Emo Ben spoke once more, but I cut him off.

"Hey Albedo, did you just hear something?" I asked, as I turned to him.

"Yeah. I wonder what that was?" he asked.

"I don't know man. Must have been a ghost." I said.

Emo Ben finally grumbled with anger and walked away from us. We both watched him go, until he threw open the door to the stairwell and disappeared from view. I finally turned back to Albedo.

"Thanks for going along with me." I said. "Jeez, that guy's an asshole."

"You want to know something even worse?" he asked.

"What?" I asked.

"He mentioned Sins Past." Albedo said.

I gasped, as I put my hand over my mouth.

"He didn't!" I exclaimed.

Albedo grimly nodded.

"He did." He replied.

"That guy is dead to me." I said in an annoyed tone.

"Well that's alright." Albedo said. "I hate the guy anyway."

"Well, as much as I want to keep talking about stuff we have in common," I said with a sad tone. "We have to talk about what happened earlier today."

"Why? What happened?" he asked.

I knew he didn't remember his transformation into that Man-Wolf thing. I felt sorry for him. But it still didn't matter. It had to be talked about.

"You killed a man today, Albedo." I said.

"Wait, what?" he asked. "I did what?"

"You don't remember transforming into a Man-Wolf thing?" I asked.

"A Man-Wolf thing?" he asked.

"You don't remember, do you?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Oh, boy." I said. "You don't remember."

He shook his head, as he looked down.

"It's finally happening isn't it?" he asked.

I didn't say anything.

"How'd it happen?" he asked.

"While you were in your Man-Wolf form, you dug your fangs into a knight's throat." I said. "You ripped out his throat."

"I had fangs? I ripped out a guy's throat?" Albedo asked.

I nodded. Albedo looked down at the floor. He eventually looked back up at me, his eyes looking almost bloodshot.

"I'm good now. I'm under control." He said. "I'm human again."

"No, you just think you are. But you just look human." I said.

"You don't think I'm human?" he asked me. "I'm good, Ben!"

"You are not good, Albedo." I said. "Don't forget that you were tested on by the Forever Knights."

"Yeah, so?" he asked.

"So I was turned into a Yenaldooshi, remember?" I asked. "They must have injected you with the same DNA that they injected me with."

"I swear, I'm good!" Albedo said.

"No, Albedo. You're not good." I said. "They probably injected you with some kind of alien vampire DNA, too. What you did was something that a vampire would do."

"So what, you think that I'm Edward from Twilight?" he asked.

"Don't even mention that shitty movie franchise." I said, as I waved my hand at him. "Look, we're going to go see Grandpa Max when we get back. Maybe he can tell us what's going on with you."

"Whatever." Albedo said, as he ran away from me, towards the door. "Just leave me alone!"

I let out a sigh of frustration after he walked away.

"Damn it, Albedo." I said in an angry tone.

"What's got our silver-haired devil pissed off now?" I heard Gwen 10 say.

I turned to my right to see her walking up to me. She stopped with a hand on her hip.

"I don't know what's gotten him so peeved." I said. "He probably thinks that I don't trust him. And he's right. I don't."

"Why don't you trust him?" she asked.

"Because that virus is changing him. If what happened today compares at all to what will happen when he goes full werewolf, then who knows how destructive he'll be." I said.

"He didn't really cause that much damage, Ben!" she said.

"He didn't do much damage? He killed a man today, Gwen 10!" I said.

"Well, when you put it that way." She said, looking down.

I looked down at the floor too, unsure of what to say next. She finally looked back up at me with a smile on her face, and I returned her gaze.

"Well, I just wanted to come tell you that you did a great thing, asking that Paradox guy to bring back Old Man Ben's Gwen." She said. "Congratulations, you did the right thing!"

She stuck out her hand, which surprised me. Eventually, I took her hand and we shook. It was weird. We had started out as a guy and a girl who acted as though we hated each other, but then we started acting as if we were the best of friends. It was just so weird.

"Gwen," I said, not using the "10" at the end of her name this time. "I could have brought him back for you. Why didn't you let me?"

She sighed, her smile disappearing. She looked at the floor, as if she were going to tear up. I almost thought she would have yelled at me. But she remained calm; she didn't yell or start to cry. She just looked back up at me and spoke.

"Ben, I've come to accept the fact that he isn't coming back. He died." She said. "Old Man Ben needed his Gwen more than I needed him. Besides, there may be another chance for me to ask Paradox to bring him back. Now, is not that time."

"Gwen, he could have brought them both back." I said. "He obviously has the power."

"No, he wouldn't bring them both back, because he'd be stretching our reward." She said. "Trust me, it makes sense."

"I just wanted to make you happy Gwen!" I said, in a confused tone.

"But, I am happy! I'm happier now than I've ever been in the past seven months!" she said. "Ben, you gave me a reason to want to live again! I don't think I've ever had more fun than I'd ever had in the last couple weeks."

I was shocked when she said that part about wanting to live again.

"Wait, are you saying that you've considered suicide?" I asked.

She looked down once more, before looking at me again, with a glum look on her face.

"Yes. Yes, I have." She said, before smiling once more. "But I don't have to think about it anymore. I've been happier than I've ever been, being here with you and the guys. You've made this life worth living."

I was confused.

"Am I supposed to know what that means?" I asked.

She just smiled sadly.

"No, I suppose you aren't." she said, before walking away and towards the doors to the stairwell.

"Gwen 10, wait!" I called, using the "10" in her name once more.

She didn't turn around or even acknowledge that she'd heard me. I sighed, as I looked down at the floor. The room was completely empty now. It was just me and Professor Paradox, who still lingered in the background.

All of a sudden, I heard the taps of his shoes as he walked up behind me. I turned around to face him, as he walked up to me with his Time Staff still in hand. I nodded at him and he did the same in a respectful manner.

"I've been hearing things about you." He said. "Quite a few people are grateful for the decision you made."

"Old Man Ben lost his Gwen many years ago." I said. "He wouldn't have survived without her. I just wanted to return to him what he had lost."

"And I respect you for making that decision." He said.

"Well, it was more you than me." I said. "You had the power to bring her back."

"No. I insist it was you. After all, you made the decision to do so." He said.

I nodded. He was right about that.

"I'm grateful that you brought her back for him." I said.

He looked at me with a sad look.

"The time will come when you won't be." He said.

I looked at him with confusion. He let go of his Staff and it floated in mid-air. He stepped forward, pulled me close to him, and whispered into my ear. Once he had whispered what he had to say and had taken his Staff back, I looked at him in confusion.

"What?" I asked in shock and disbelief.

Paradox just winked, before disappearing into thin air, taking his Staff with him. I was now alone, in a cold, dark room.

 _Sometime Later_

Sometime had passed, and I was still thinking about what the thing Paradox had told me meant. We were now on the ground floor, hanging around in the courtyard outside the Tower. A few people were talking around me. Old Man Ben was talking with Cooper and Gwen 10 about what he was going to do with Vilgax.

And Old Man Ben's Gwen was talking with Julie. Once it was safe, she and Goth Ben came down. It was probably difficult with her wheelchair to get her here. Most of the Rogue Squadron went home to look after Little Kenny. Well, safe for Benita, the female version of me, stayed behind.

Since she was the only female "Ben" except for Gwen 10, Old Man Ben's Gwen wanted more than one girl to talk to. And I understand her, frankly. None of us are her age, we're all pretty much teens.

She's got to have people of the same gender to talk to, who'd share her interests. I kept listening to Old Man Ben talking with Gwen 10 and Cooper.

"Until I can clear enough area, he's going to stay in the ruined Mess Hall in the Bunker, restrained to that slab." He said. "He's not going anywhere, and he'll have a guard posted on him 24/7, until I can build him his cell."

"Where are you going to put him after that?" Cooper asked.

"I'm going to build a cell in my backyard, made completely out of concrete, big enough for him to live there for the rest of his pathetic life." He said. "Once the cell is built and he's inside, as long as he's kept alive, I don't care what happens. Just as long as he does one thing: I want him to watch me rebuild everything he destroyed. As long as he does that, I don't care how he fucking does it."

He walked away after saying that, leaving Cooper and Gwen 10 by themselves. Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around, to see Old Man Ben's Gwen standing there, being a foot or so taller than I.

"Oh, um… Hi?" I asked, unsure of what to say.

"Don't say anything." She said. "Just listen. I want to say thank you."

"For bringing you back?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"No. I want to thank you for giving what he had lost back to Ben. From the things I've been told, he wouldn't have survived without me." She said. "If I hadn't of come back, he may have gone back on sparing Vilgax and he could have killed him. If you hadn't asked for my resurrection, he may have eventually lost his mind."

I looked down, and eventually looked back up.

"Don't mention it, Gwen. It's the least I could do." I said.

She smiled at me.

"Now listen to what I have to say. You are going to make a great husband to your Gwen one day." She said. "Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll hang onto her and protect her, through everything that may happen. That you'll never let her go."

I nodded.

"I promise." I said. "You know, that's what Kai told me before she died."

"It's the truth. And good, because I-" she spoke, but was interrupted when Old Man Ben came over to us.

"Come on." He said, as he wrapped his arm around her, as he walked away with her, surprising her and myself. "We need to make up for lost time."

She just giggled, as he walked with her, semi-carrying her the whole way. I looked down, as I scratched the back of my neck.

"Wow." I said. "I wish I could pull off a stunt like that with my Gwen."

 _One Hour Later_

 _Old Man Ben's Childhood Home_

The entire Rebel Alliance stood outside of Old Man Ben's Childhood Home. We all just stood there, as we were forced to do nothing but listen. I looked over to Albedo, who had his hands over Kid Ben's ears, as he struggled to get free.

"Man, they're not even being subtle about it, are they?" Emo Ben asked from his spot next to me.

I shook my head, as I heard Gwen let out a moan of pleasure.

"No, they're not trying to hide it. Then again, it's been three decades." I said. "He waited so long to be able to do _that_ again."

I looked over at Gwen 10 and she looked back, with a blush on her face. She quickly looked away from me.

 _Why? Why is she blushing?_

My thoughts ran rampant with the conversations that I had in the last two hours.

"How many times do you think he's-" Albedo started to speak from his spot, but I cut him off.

"Shut up. I don't want to hear anything about it." I said.

"Shouldn't we be working or something?" Goth Ben asked.

"Probably." I said.

"So, are we going to go work or something?" he asked.

No one said a word. I heard one last moan of pleasure, and then complete silence. We all looked at each other, no words being spoken.

"Dude, I think he just fin-" Emo Ben tried to finish his sentence, but I cut him off.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I shouted with anger.

Once I heard nothing else from inside the house, I turned to everyone.

"Okay everyone, get to work. Go do something." I said. "It's not like we want them to know that we did nothing and listened to them the whole time."

"There was nothing else to do! The sound was overwhelming!" Albedo exclaimed.

"Shut up, Albedo!" I yelled to him.

Everyone moved, getting to work on something. A few of the guys began to tear down the wooden wall that we had all worked so hard to build. Not knowing what to do myself, I decided to just go on a long walk.

I had forgotten to mention what we did with the remaining knights. Once we had told them what would happen to their so called Emperor, they told us that they were leaving. They had said that there was no more fighting to be done.

They wanted no part in Old Man Ben's plan to rebuild society. They planned to go as far away from the Ruins of Bellwood as they possibly could, and rebuild somewhere else, living a life of solitude. We let them go after that, and we kept all of their weapons for ourselves, just in case this was a scam.

 _One Hour Later_

I returned from my walk, surprised that I had been gone so long. I ended up walking through the ruined city and just walked around for so long, that when I noticed I'd been gone for forty five minutes, I ran the whole way back. It didn't stop me from being gone for a full hour though.

I don't know why I didn't think about using XLR8. We could use our Omnitrixes now. The specialty EMP grenades that the knights used were no longer a threat, since we were okay with the knights now.

When I walked through the open wooden gate, which was gone now, I was greeted by Albedo.

"Hey Ben, you were gone for a while." Albedo said. "Where did you go?"

"I just needed to go for a walk and think about some stuff." I said.

"Are you okay now?" Albedo asked.

"Of course I am. Why do you ask?" I asked him.

"A few of the guys and I have been thinking about throwing a party tonight." He said. "What do you think of that?"

"Fuck yeah, dude!" I exclaimed. "Let's throw a party! We deserve some R&R. If you want to throw a party, go ahead."

"Alright!" Albedo exclaimed. "Awesome!"

But then, I thought of something.

"You know what? Hold on." I said. "Let me go ask Old Man Ben if he's cool with it."

"Okay." Albedo said in an annoyed tone, as I walked past him. "Whatever."

I walked around the front yard, looking for him. Eventually, I stopped looking and found Gwen 10 sitting all by herself. I did my best to ignore the urge to question her about all that she had said a few hours ago.

"Hey, have you seen Old Man Ben anywhere?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said. "He's in the backyard."

"Doing what?" I asked.

"He's probably beginning to set up Vilgax's cell." She said. "You know, measuring the dimensions of the cell?"

I nodded.

"What do you need him for?" she asked.

"Albedo asked me if we could throw a party tonight." I said. "He said he and a few of the guys have talked nonstop about it."

Gwen 10 looked down.

"Yeah. A party would do us all some good." She said. "Boost the morale a little bit."

I was confused. She sounded sad now.

"Gwen 10?" I asked with concern. "Are you-"

She cut me off by getting up and jogging away from me.

"I'm fine." She said, as she jogged away.

I stood there, scratching the back of my neck in confusion. Eventually, I decided to go to the backyard and ask Old Man Ben about throwing a party. I walked around to the back gate and opened it. I walked down the brick path into the backyard and saw him.

Surprisingly enough, he wasn't working on Vilgax's cell. Instead, it looked like he was digging up Gwen's grave. I was confused. I clearing saw a shovel in his hands, and he was digging exactly where she had previously been buried. I walked up behind him and stopped.

"Old Man Ben?" I asked with concern.

"Yeah?" he asked, as he kept digging. "What do you want, kid?"

"I wanted to ask you a question." I said.

"Okay, ask away." He said. "I can talk and dig at the same time."

 _But why are you digging?_

"Why are you digging?" I asked.

"Just ask me the question." He said.

"Why are you digging?" I repeated myself.

He sighed, as he stopped digging. He finally turned around to look at me.

"I'm digging up Gwen's grave." He said.

I was stunned with what he said.

"I have to know if the Gwen we brought back is actually my Gwen." He said, as he went back to digging.

"Really?!" I asked with anger. "Having Gwen back isn't enough for you?! You just have to dig up her grave and see if she's still there?!"

He didn't reply.

"I'm talking to you!" I exclaimed.

"What's your damn question?!" he said with anger in his voice.

I let out a growl of anger, the obvious fact being that he wasn't going to answer my question.

"Albedo and some of the guys want to have a party tonight." I said. "Are you cool with us throwing a party?"

"Kid, if you want to throw a party, go ahead. You don't need my permission." He said. "A party would be a good final night of stress relieving fun before I send all of you back home."

"So yes, then?" I asked.

"Yes, that's a yes! Jesus, kid." He said. "Go tell them they can throw a party if they really want to."

Although it didn't really mean anything to me, I silently put my fist up into the air. Just then, I noticed that Old Man Ben was without his better half.

"Hey, Old Man Ben?" I asked.

"What?" he asked in return, not stopping his digging.

"Where's Gwen?" I asked.

"Oh. Right now, she's trying to get Little Kenny to take a nap." He said. "Besides, it'd do her some good to get to know our son."

 _Our son. Old Man Ben and Old Woman Gwen's son. It sounded a lot better than Old Man Ben and Kai's son._

I looked at him, as he continued to dig. Eventually, I found myself sitting down in the dirt, until he eventually stopped digging. And when he did, he spoke.

"Well, moment of truth." He said. "I'm about to get my answer."

I got up and walked over to the dugout grave, and looked into it. Inside, at the bottom of the grave, was the infamous white bed sheet that he had told me they had buried her in. He picked up the sheet and pulled it up.

It came up empty and flat. He looked back at me, as he smiled and chuckled. I looked at him and shrugged, asking for an explanation.

"The sheet's empty. There's nothing here." He said. "No bones, not even a decomposing corpse. The Gwen I buried here three decades ago has disappeared without a trace. The Gwen we brought back, it's really her!"

I rolled my eyes and turned back around.

"As if you really needed to know." I said, as I stormed away.

 _Several Hours Later_

Nightfall had come. The rest of the day had been spent doing hard work. Three groups of men and women worked on separate tasks. Albedo, Benita and I worked on demolishing the wooden wall, which again, we worked so hard to build!

While we did that, across the way in the Ruins of Bellwood, a team composed of Old Man Kevin, Cooper, Emo Ben and Goth Ben worked on trying to wire the power from Vilgax's Tower over to Old Man Ben's Childhood Home.

Most of the electrical systems seemed to be intact. And I know that because the job took so long that after the other two jobs were done, we were told to go help over at the Tower. We'd only had power at the house for maybe the last hour or hour and a half.

And the final job, which was the quickest job, was to clean up the yard of all of the sticks and things that were lying around. That way when the time came, we could bring up the tables and electrical stuff that Old Man Ben had saved by keeping them in the basement.

But yeah, we finally did get power restored to the house. Although quite a few light bulbs had to be replaced. And we didn't have a whole lot of light bulbs left. So, we had to use a few candles to light up some of the darker areas that the yard offered once the sun had gone down.

Speaking of the sun, it was quite amazing to hear from Old Man Ben that this was the first the sun had shined since Vilgax dropped the bombs all around the globe. Anyway, back to the details, Old Man Ben had also set up a few of those cover things, that you'd take on camping trips to set up as shade from the sun.

I couldn't tell you what they were called, as I never really was one for camping. But anyway, underneath those is where Old Man Ben and Old Woman Gwen set up the tables with all of the food that she, with the help of Julie and Benita had made.

Speaking of Old Woman Gwen, I remember that both she and Old Man Ben had dressed up a little bit for the party. Old Man Ben wore slacks, tennis shoes and just an average short sleeved dress shirt. They came out of the house an hour ago, after a half hour of getting ready (and Lord knows what else).

But Old Woman Gwen, she came out wearing a sleeveless black dress, with straps running over her shoulders and down her back. So, it wasn't a strapless dress. Oh, and she wore black high heels to match. She looked great, stunning.

I wanted to compliment her on her look. I wanted to tell her how amazing the dress made her look, how it showed off her legs and slender curves. But it wasn't my place to say. So, I kept my mouth shut and kept my distance.

 _Who knows? Maybe my Gwen will dress like that one day, when we're adults. That's to say that our relationship makes it that far._

We had all eaten dinner. Right now, a few of the guys were begging Old Man Ben to lend them a football so they could go play catch in the street. As they did that, music played in the background. As for me? I was sitting by myself at the edge of lawn.

Just then, Albedo ran up to me.

"Hey, man! What are you doing sitting out here by yourself?" he asked.

"I don't really want to do anything." I said. "Plus I need to think. Among other things, I need to think about what that Paradox character said to me today."

"Why?" Albedo asked. "What did he say?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I said.

"Okay then. Look, I wanted to come tell you that you should talk to Emo Ben." He said.

"Why?" I asked. "Why would I want to talk to him?"

"Because he wants to talk about comic book stuff." Albedo said. "And I can't talk to him anymore! Because if I do, I'll have a fucking aneurysm!"

"Okay, Jesus, fine! I'll do it!" I said.

"Thank you." Albedo said, as he walked away, without another word.

I let out a sigh, as I stood up.

"Let's get this over with." I said, as I walked in search of Emo Ben.

Eventually, I found him at one of the food tables, chowing down.

"So you wanted to talk about comic book stuff?" I asked.

He turned around, his mouthful of whatever he had been chowing down on prior to me coming over to him.

"Mmm-Hmm!" he said, his mouth still full of food.

He swallowed and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"So what's your favorite comic book story again?" he asked.

"The Ultimate Clone Saga." I said. "As in Ultimate Spider-Man."

"Oh, right. I forgot your brother told me that." He said. "Man, R.I.P. Ultimate Peter Parker, bro."

I rolled my eyes.

"He's technically alive, before the Ultimate Universe was discontinued. Remember, he came back shortly after Miles Morales took over as Ultimate Spider-Man?" I asked. "And don't call me "bro"."

"Oh, right. I don't think I ever read the comic in which he came back." He said. "And sorry, bro."

"What the fuck did I just tell you?" I asked.

"Sorry!" he said.

"Forget about it." I said. "What's your favorite comic book?"

I knew what he would say. I was just trying to make conversation with him until he lost interest or something else came up.

"One More Day. It's an essential-" I cut him off mid sentence.

"Okay, shut up. A, I know that your favorite comic book is One More Day already." I said. "B, it is not essential to Spider-Man's mythos. And C, what is your _other_ favorite comic book?"

"Brand New Day." He answered almost immediately.

"Oh, I knew this was a waste of time. That doesn't count. They're both the same to me." I said. "What about another favorite comic book?"

He thought about it.

"Sins Past." He said.

I wanted to pull my hair out at this point.

"Don't mention Sins Past! You don't get to mention that horrible story!" I exclaimed. "This is your last chance, dude!"

He thought about it once more.

"Sins Remembered." He said.

I lost it after that. To put it bluntly, I lost my temper.

"You know what?! I'm done! Fuck you and fuck your opinion!" I exclaimed with anger. "I'm out of here!"

"Language!" Old Man Ben called to me from his spot a few feet away.

"Shut up, old man!" I exclaimed with anger, without looking at him.

I stormed away with anger after that.

 _Thirty Minutes Later_

It was probably late at this point. The moon was high up in the sky and a few of the lights had been shut off for the night. A few people still lingered on the lawn for the party as it died down, but most of everyone had gone to sleep for the night.

The music was still playing and when I looked up to the food area, I saw Old Man Ben and Old Woman Gwen slow dancing. I let out a sigh, as I looked down at the ground. The excitement was over. At this point, I just wanted to go home. I heard footsteps coming towards me. I looked up to see Gwen 10 standing there.

 _You want to talk to me now?_

I didn't say it. I don't know why. I let her have the first words.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked.

I sighed, as I looked back down at the ground.

"Just sitting here, doing nothing. Emo Ben wanted to talk about comic book stuff and I lost my temper when he started mentioning stuff that I hate." I said. "So now, for lack of a better word, I'm exiling myself."

"You wanna dance?" she asked.

The question came out of nowhere. I looked back up at her and spoke.

"What? Why? Isn't that-" I tried to speak, but she cut me off.

"Just shut up and dance with me." She said, as she took my hand and pulled me up.

We started dancing normally in the yard, in the same spot that I had been sitting down. We held hands, while my free hand rested above her hip. Her free hand rested on my shoulder. Basically, we danced as people would dance at a Homecoming dance, or a Prom.

This is exactly how Kai and I would have danced, if Kai hadn't dumped me that is. We continued to dance, turning in small circles. Eventually, I got a hang of the dancing and twirled Gwen 10 a little bit. After we went back to dancing in small circles, she smiled at me; obviously she had liked how I twirled her.

After that, we kept dancing for maybe five minutes, give or take? And then, something surprising happened.

 _Albedo_

I watched from a distance as Ben and Gwen 10 danced. It looked as though it was just a friendly dance. Oh, how wrong I was. After six minutes of watching them dance, the dancing declined, and they started slow dancing. They just stared at one another. And then, something very shocking happened. They kissed!

I was very shocked. And not only that, but I was angry, too. I turned around without seeing if they would stop kissing and ran off to find Old Man Ben. I had to get home, right now.

"Gwen is going to hear about this!" I said under my breath as I ran.

 _Ben_

We were slow dancing now. And right at this moment, we were just staring at one another. She had a smirk on her face, as well a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. She looked into my eyes and I looked into hers. I knew what was about to happen, I had predicted her next action just seconds before it happened.

"Gwen 10, I know what you're thinking. And before you do it, just let me tell you that you can't." I said. "I'm in a r-"

She cut me off by doing it anyway. She locked lips with me. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the kiss, and I know this because I never closed my eyes and kissed her back. I was surprised more than anything frankly, and kissing her back would be wrong.

She eventually pulled away from the kiss after ten seconds or so, and looked at me with confusion, as I looked at her with shock.

"What?" she asked.

I took her hand in mine and brought her down to the ground with me, so she sat across from me. I let out a sigh, as I thought about where to begin.

"Gwen 10, you are an amazing young lady. You are extremely strong and resourceful." I said. "But fact of the matter is that we can't ever do that again. I'm in a relationship with the Gwen from my dimension. I can't cheat on her. I'm sorry."

She just smiled at me. She didn't look mad; she didn't even shed a tear.

"I know." Was all she said.

"Wait, if you know that we can't be together, then why did you kiss me?" I asked.

She gave me a sad smile now.

"I wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Ben. _My_ Ben." She said. "Because I'll never get the chance to kiss him again."

"Yes, you will! That's the part you don't understand!" I said. "This Paradox guy, he's always watching. There's got to be a way for you to get his attention. Do some favors for him and in return, ask him to bring your Ben back. He'll do it, Gwen 10. I know he will."

She shook her head.

"No, he won't. The power to be able to bring people back from the dead, that doesn't come for free." She said. "And he won't bring people back for just measly little favors. Plus, there has to be a balancing factor to it."

I had to give her credit for that.

"He -, No. He can, no. He would bring him-" I stuttered as I tried to say what I wanted to say.

She interrupted me as I tried to speak.

"It took me a while to realize it, but I know now. In the beginning, I thought that I was grieving over the loss of my cousin. But, in my time with you and the guys, I realized differently." She said. "I was grieving over the loss of my lover, whom I never got a chance to be with."

I just looked at her, feeling as though I would cry.

"If I could go back, and accept his advice, I would. Maybe we could have shared the alien watch." She said. "And who know? Maybe over time, our relationship would have evolved into something similar to what you have with your Gwen."

Not knowing what else to do and out of sympathy, I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. She returned the hug without hesitation. As I hugged her, she eventually spoke.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you." She said.

I sighed.

"It's okay." I said. "Just forget about. It's water under the bridge."

 _But it wasn't okay. It was far from okay. If Gwen found out about this, the results would be catastrophic. It'd be over. We'd be done._

She eventually pulled away from the hug.

"Thanks, Ben." She said as she smiled at me. "That really made me feel better."

"Don't mention it." I said, as I smiled with return. "That's what friends are for!"

She nodded.

"Actually, now that I think of it, I will _always_ be here for you, Gwen 10." I said. "If you ever need anything, I'll be here. I'll be here to pick you up when you fall down. I will always be your friend, I promise."

She just looked at me.

"You go back home tomorrow with Albedo." She said. "How do you intend on doing that?"

"I have a plan." I said, as I got up. "And now I have to go tell Old Man Ben about it."

I turned and ran towards the eating area, which Old Man Ben was currently taking apart.

"You're not even going to tell me about it?" Gwen 10 called behind me.

I didn't answer.

 _The Next Morning_

The time had come. All of us had gathered in Old Man Ben's lab in the Bunker. I was going home. At long last. Old Man Ben told me that he no longer required my help and that I was off the hook.

Albedo wasn't present in the lab with the rest of us. And oddly enough, when I asked Old Man Ben where he was, he told me that Albedo had gone home late last night. When I had asked him why he didn't make Albedo stay here, Old Man Ben told me that he wasn't in a position to tell him what to do.

So, Albedo had gone home last night, without as much as a goodbye to me. That's rude, for his standards. Old Man Ben had manned the console that controlled the portal generator. He kept typing at the console, until a bluish-purple portal appeared in the center of the machine.

"Alright, you're good to go kid." He said. "Time to go home."

I nodded at him and looked at the rest of the Rebel Alliance, soon to be disbanded. I took a breath before I spoke.

"Goodbye, everyone." I said. "Always a pleasure."

Without another word, I turned around and stepped up to enter the portal. But then, I remembered that I wasn't done yet. I turned back around and stepped down.

"Before I go, I spoke with Old Man Ben last night. I think that we, as the survivors of the war against Vilgax, should return to this dimension yearly, to honor our fallen allies." I said.

Everyone looked at each other, before murmuring in agreement. I was satisfied knowing that they agreed with me.

"Old Man Ben agrees with me." I said, as he nodded from his spot at the console. "That's why he's given me this-"

I pulled out a green device, with the Omnitrix's logo on it's cover.

"This is the first of many communicators. Old Man Ben was up all night creating the first two. You all will get one before you leave. So, I recommend that you all stay here until you get yours." I said. "Along with the fact that it allows us to contact one another when we are dimensions apart, it is able to send out a distress beacon. The communicators can home in on the signal, which will create a temporary portal, so that we can jump to the dimension that is in distress, to provide assistance."

Everyone looked as though they were in awe. I continued talking, as I wasn't done yet.

"You may wonder, if we jump to another dimension using a temporary portal, we'll be stuck in that dimension, right?" I asked. "Well, no. It won't work that way. Old Man Ben is currently also working on a prototype of a mini portal generator. It'd probably use up a lot of power, I'll say that. I won't go into specifics, so ask him about the projects when I leave here. That is all."

I turned back around and was about to step through the portal, when Emo Ben asked me a question.

"Why, Ben?" he asked. "Why would we need the communicators?"

I turned back around and smiled at him.

"When there's trouble, you'll know who to call." I said.

Just then, out of nowhere, I felt something grab me from behind. Then, just as quickly as I had been grabbed, I was pulled through the portal.

 _Ben Prime's Home Dimension_

When I came to, I immediately noticed that I was back home. I looked around, to see the lush green grass in my yard, my intact house, everything the way that it should be.

 _Oh yeah, I was back home alright._

But there was something here that shouldn't have been here. Ghostfreak was here, hovering in front of me. He pulled me up and onto my knees. As he put his hand on my shoulder, keeping me down on the ground, I noticed Albedo was next to me, on his knees as well. And nearby, safe and sound, was Gwen, who was chained to a tree.

"Well, how about it?" Ghostfreak asked. "First time again, Ben?"

Epilogue

 _Old Man Ben_

 _The Previous Night_

 _The Rebel Alliance Bunker, Mess Hall_

I walked into the Mess Hall. I saw Goth Ben guarding the prisoner, who was still unconscious.

"Goth Ben, go join the party." I instructed. "Your shift is over. Benita will be down soon to take over for you."

"Yes, Sir!" he said without hesitation, as he ran past me.

I let out a sigh. I guess that they would never be able to not call me "Sir". I looked over at Vilgax's sleeping form.

"I know you're awake." I said. "If you want to say something, say it now. The next guard will be here soon."

Vilgax slowly opened his eyes. He began coughing and tried to cover his mouth, but realized that his arms were restrained.

"I've been in and out for most of the day. But I think I'm finally waking up for real." He said, as he looked up at me. "Why'd you do it, Ben? Why would you spare your arch nemesis?"

"Because it's right!" I exclaimed with anger, as I walked up to him. "It's more humane than killing you. And you better be thankful that you're alive right now! Because if my girlfriend insisted on me avoiding the killing option so much, you'd be dead now!"

He grunted in pain.

"You know what?" he asked. "Fuck you, Tennyson! For an inferior human, you have a weird moral compass."

"What the fuck ever." I said, as I rolled my eyes.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asked.

"Don't play the fearful with me! You're an intergalactic overlord!" I exclaimed. "You shouldn't be afraid! But if you really want to know, that's fine. You will sit in a cell for the rest of your pathetic fucking life, and you will watch as I rebuild the civilization that you destroyed! You are going to die an old man in prison Vilgax. You're fucked, do you understand me?!"

He just stared at me, before oddly enough, he smiled at me.

"Crystal clear." He said. "But you're still an inferior human, Ben Tennyson."

Just then, Benita walked into the room. I walked towards her and she high fived me on my way out. I stopped in the doorway. I turned around to face Vilgax.

"I may be a lot of things. But I do know one thing." I said in a calm voice. "I'm more than just an inferior human. I'm better than you'll _ever_ be!"

Then, I walked out of the room, flipping him the bird on the way out.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter, as well as the last numbered part of Omniverse! The next chapter will be the last part of Omniverse, a sort of epilogue. But to make it stand out from the last seventeen parts, it'll have it's own unique title, other than "Omniverse: Part Eighteen".

* So, what does everyone think of Vilgax being a prisoner? Does everyone think that he should be alive? Or, should Old Man Ben have killed him? What do you think? Before I go to the next thing, I made a bit of a typo in the last chapter. I had said it had been three decades since the sun and shined down on Bellwood. But that's not correct. It'd be more close to fifteen or so years.

* What do you think Professor Paradox whispered to Ben? What do you think he means by "The time will come when you won't be?" Obviously, I know what Paradox whispered to Ben. But it won't be revealed what he had said for several chapters, due to incoming spoilers.

* So, something finally happened between Ben Prime and Gwen 10. It wasn't the first time they kissed. And I won't lie and say that it'll be the last time they'll kiss. They may kiss again, but I haven't decided yet. Nothing is breaking Gwen and Ben up. Well, they will break up later on in the series, but they'll be back together in no time. Like, three or four chapters is how long the breakup will last.

* Speaking of Gwen 10, this was the last chapter where she plays a major role. So, it's time for me to ask. Would you guys be at all interested in seeing a Gwen 10 spin-off story from me? And if you do, then great! I think it'd be really fun to write! So, if you do want me to write it, where should the story start? Should it start after Omniverse ends? Or, do you want me to explore her (stressful) origin story all the way up to Omniverse and past that? Decide and let me know, people!

* That's going to do it. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.

Next Chapter: Albedo's safety is threatened. Just when all seems lost, Ben finds hope.


	67. Chapter 66: First Time Again

Chapter 66: First Time Again

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty Six! So in this chapter, Omniverse will be wrapped up.

* Ghostfreak will (try to) get his revenge in this chapter. That's all I will say. The chapter begins!

 _Ben_

 _Ben Prime's Home Dimension_

I stared down at the ground in anger. Yet again, Ghostfreak had struck. I looked up at him in anger.

"I don't understand. Why are you doing this?" I asked. "What did I ever do to you?"

Ghostfreak levitated in front of me.

"You didn't use me." Ghostfreak said. "You locked me in the closet like some kind of monster!"

"You are a monster." Albedo said from next to me.

Ghostfreak looked at him.

"Kid, be patient. I'll get to you." He said, as he turned to look at me. "And now, you have to be punished. _Again_. But you're no stranger to this, are you? Are you ready, Ben? You can hum along if you want!"

He pointed at me.

"Eenie." He said, before pointing at Albedo. "Meanie."

He turned around and pointed at Gwen, still chained to the tree.

"Minie, Moe. Catch a-" he started chuckling, as he cut himself off. "I can't do it. It's a joke, alright? I'm just joking! Jeez, that guy was an idiot!"

 _That guy was an idiot? What's he talking about?_

"If you'll excuse me, I need to tend to something real quick." He said, as he floated towards the open door to my house. "Stay put."

He disappeared into my house without another word. I looked up at Gwen and she looked back at me from the tree that she was chained to. The first thing I wanted to do was get up and run to her, just to hold her.

But as the past shows, I should listen to Ghostfreak. So, I stayed put on the ground. I looked over at Albedo, as he fidgeted in his place next to me.

"What's the deal, man?" I asked. "Why did you leave early last night?"

He looked back at me, and I could see the look of anger in his eyes. Then, he said something that surprised me.

"Why did you kiss Gwen 10?" he whispered.

My eyes widened.

"You know?" I whispered with shock and fear. "Gwen 10 kissed _me_ , not the other way around!"

"I don't give a fuck what you think happened!" Albedo exclaimed. "You had a Gwen, and you decided that having one wasn't enough! I told Gwen! She's pissed at you!"

I looked over at Gwen, who gave me the same look of worry that she had given me when I looked at her a few moments ago.

"Really?" I asked. "Because she doesn't look mad."

He didn't say anything else after that. Before Ghostfreak could come back, I saw an opportunity. So, I took it. I pulled out my communicator and pressed a button on it.

"What's that?" Albedo asked me when he saw it.

"Alright, let's get back to it!" Ghostfreak called, as he came out of my house.

I ignored Albedo and quickly put my communicator away before Ghostfreak could see it. I noticed that he had a wooden staff in his hand. It looked like Hex's staff. But it could just be a replica.

 _Wow, he really trying to remind me of the first time this happened._

I looked up at him, as he hovered over to me.

"This isn't going to go the way it did last time, Tennyson." He said to me. "You remember, we tried to kill Gwen last time we did this."

"Why are you saying we?" I asked in confused tone. "Sure, you had the Insidious Seven with you, but they didn't even want to work for you! You were alone! There was no we!"

"You shut up! The Insidious Seven was a mistake! We didn't anticipate that you would win!" he said. "But we don't need the help this time. We'll make you suffer by ourselves!"

"Again with this "we" shit." I said. "Shut up."

"Don't tell me how to talk! You're probably wondering how you will suffer this time." He said, as he looked me in the eye. "We're going to kill Albedo now."

"Wait, seriously? You're going to kill Albedo?" I asked, as I laughed. "Go ahead."

Ghostfreak looked confused.

"Really?" he asked. "You are okay with me killing your brother?"

"Okay with it? No, I'm not. But if you think that killing my brother will break me, then go ahead and try it." I said. "But it won't break me. You can kill Albedo, you can you kill Gwen, hell you can kill my entire family and that won't stop me. You can even take the Omnitrix from me, but nothing will stop me."

I leaned forward as continued talking, as I gritted my teeth.

"I'm going to kill you." I said. "I've already killed you and I'll do it again, again and again."

He just stared at me.

"Okay." He finally whispered to me.

He hovered over to Albedo, staff in hand.

"You said I could do it!" he exclaimed, as he got ready to swing the staff.

Albedo looked away, ready for his impending death. And then, a miracle happened. Out of nowhere, I bluish-purple portal opened and a chorus of yells erupted, as the entirety of the Rebel Alliance emerged from the other side.

Ghostfreak looked at with shock, as he came under the fire of multiple Laser Rifles. I was in awe, as Ghostfreak dropped the staff and tried to escape.

"Don't let him get away this time!" Old Man Ben exclaimed, as the Alliance members spread out on my lawn.

I watched as Ghostfreak hid behind a tree, which didn't help much. Gwen 10 was the first to run over to Albedo and I.

"Ben, are you alright?" she asked with worry.

I looked past her to my Gwen, expecting to see a look of shock on her face. But said look wasn't present. She looked calm; there was no trace of confusion on her face. It was as if she understood what was going on and that she was okay with it.

I looked back to Gwen 10, who still had a look of worry on her face.

"I can't believe it." I said at last. "Ghostfreak decides that he wants to kill my brother, just to see if it'll break me."

"Well, he's paying for it now." She said. "Look!"

I looked as Ghostfreak was shot at by laser fire, as he was not very well hidden behind the tree. I watched, as one of the laser shots luckily shot off a few of his fingers on one hand. Or were they talons?

He screamed with pain, as he held the stubs where two of his fingers used to be. He came out from cover, after realizing that he had lost. Albedo and I stood up, the odds having been turned in our favor.

I watched Old Man Ben run over to the tree that Gwen was chained to. He struck the lock on the chains a few times, until it broke. Gwen moved away from the tree as she looked at Old Man Ben.

"Thanks." She said with gratitude.

I was still very surprised at how well she was taking this. She didn't even look surprised or confused! I looked back at Gwen 10.

"Old Man Ben had us gather our weapons as soon as we got your distress signal." She said. "Then again, we knew that you must have been in trouble when Ghostfreak pulled you back through the portal."

"Thanks." I said, as I grinned. "But a few minutes ago wouldn't have been so bad, either."

"Hey, we're here now." Gwen 10 said, grinning as she playing punched me in the shoulder. "What are you going to do?"

"No, no, no!" Ghostfreak's voice interrupted everyone's conversations.

We all turned to look at the wounded villain, hovering above the ground just a few feet from the tree, holding his hand.

"This isn't how this was supposed to go! Damn you, Tennyson!" he exclaimed with anger. "I swear to you, The Ghostfreak Corps is going to hear about this!"

Gwen 10 and I exchanged glances, before I looked back at him. I chose to ignore what he had said about this "Ghostfreak Corps".

"Go ahead, Ben." Old Man Ben said, walking up to me with my Gwen in tow. "Go ahead and do whatever you want to do to Ghostfreak. After what he's done to you and to all of the rest of us, I think he deserves it."

I turned to look at Old Man Ben.

"Are you kidding? Did you actually think that I wasn't going to give Ghostfreak what he has coming to him?" I asked, as I walked in his direction. "Wow, just wow. Just give me a minute and I'll be right with him."

 _Gwen 10_

Ben walked into his house, leaving us all alone outside. I looked over to his Gwen and walked over to her. Once I reached her, we looked at one another, sharing an awkward expression.

"Um, hi." Was all I could think to say.

"Hello. So you must be the famous Gwen 10 that I've heard so much about." She said, as she stuck out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person."

I took her hand and shook it, a confused look growing on my face.

"Who told you about me?" I asked. "It couldn't have been Ben. He hasn't been here for very long."

"It was Albedo who told me." She said, as her smile faded a little bit. "He told me that he saw you two kissing last night."

Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked at the ground, trying my best to comprehend what she had just said. I eventually looked back up her, with a look of shock on my face. I was even more surprised to see that she was smiling at me.

"It's okay." She said.

I shook my head.

"No, it's not okay!" I said. "I kissed your boyfriend and I shouldn't have! I'm sorry, okay? Just don't hit me or anything!"

Gwen looked confused.

"Calm down. A, it is fine that you kissed my boyfriend. I don't care." She said. "B, what makes you think that I'd hit you?"

I sniffled, as I looked at her.

"I don't know. It's just that I kissed your boyfriend. _Your_ boyfriend!" I said. "And doing something like that isn't right."

"Calm down!" Gwen said to me again. "I told you that I don't care if you kissed my boyfriend!"

"But how can you not care?" I asked. "I kissed a guy who was already in a relationship. With you! Does it mean nothing to you?"

"Nope. I don't care in the slightest." She said. "Once Albedo told me of the places that he and Ben have gone, the places they've seen and the people they've met, the multiple different versions of themselves. And one who stood out amongst the rest. You. A Ben who was not a Ben, but instead an alternate version of myself who received the Omnitrix instead of Ben."

 _It's a little more complicated than that,_ I thought.

"What are you saying?" I asked.

"I should have expected it. There must have been multiple other realities where Ben and I fell in love." She said. "Hell, maybe there are a few realities where we're not even related. I should have expected that he would be kissed by an alternate Gwen. I don't care what it is. Maybe you and your Ben haven't hit it off yet. Whatever it is, I don't care. I forgive you for kissing my Ben, because I should have expected it."

 _She doesn't know,_ I thought to myself.

"Please, I don't want to talk about my Ben." I said.

"Why is that?" Gwen asked.

Before I could answer, Ben walked back outside.

 _Ben_

After finding what I had been looking for inside of the house, I came back outside. I walked over to Ghostfreak, who was still hovering over by the tree, holding his hand wound.

"So, is this how you wanted this to go?" I asked him.

"Please, you don't have to do this." He said. "You can just let me go. I'll go away and you'll never see me again, I promise!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Please, Ghostfreak. You just threatened me that some "Ghostfreak Corps" would hear about your defeat. It's not like you to just surrender." I said. "But you may never come after me again, but you will go after someone, won't you? Because you just strive to make people miserable, don't you?"

He just looked at me in fear.

"Besides, I can't let you go." I said, as I pulled the pair of sewing scissors out of my pocket.

He looked at the scissors with fear, recognizing the blue handles.

"Because I've already made you one promise." I said, as I stepped forward.

I stabbed Ghostfreak in the stomach with the scissors, which earned a gasp of pain from him. Along with him, I heard Gwen 10 and my Gwen gasp in unison. But I didn't stop there; I pulled the scissor out of his stomach and stabbed him again. His white, ectoplasm-like blood flowed onto my hand as I stabbed him once more.

I pulled the scissors back out again and stabbed him in the neck this time. I pulled the scissors out yet again and just continued to stab him.

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

Five minutes had passed and at this point, Ghostfreak may have been long dead. So at this point, I was pretty much just stabbing a body that had been long dead. Oh, had I mentioned that I cut off his head, his arms and his tail from the main body?

Because I did do that. I cut him up to the best of my ability, because it's what he deserved after all of the stuff he had put me through. I had gotten so violent that Old Man Ben had to take Kid Ben inside, much to his chagrin.

I had taken a break from stabbing Ghostfreak's body. I sat up, panting from exerting so much energy. I heard footsteps behind me, as I got ready to stab at his body once more. I felt someone's hand on my shoulder.

"Ben?" Gwen asked. "I think you've done enough."

I let out a sigh, dropping the scissors as I nodded. Gwen picked up the scissors from the ground, probably to make sure that I wouldn't use them again. I stood up, as I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"I have to go clean myself up." I said, as I headed for the house.

"What do you want us to do with Ghostfreak's body?" Old Man Ben asked.

I turned around to look at them all.

"You'll all take a piece of his body back with you." I said. "Once you get back to your respective dimensions, bury the piece I give you. It should be pretty tough for him to reform while his body parts are scattered across multiple dimensions."

"Ben, I don't think all of that's necessary." Gwen 10 said to me.

"Just shut up and do what I tell you." I said.

I walked back into my house without another word to wash up.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

I walked back outside, having gotten washed up and a new change of clothes. Old Man Ben was waiting closest to the door, so I walked up to him and spoke to him first.

"You take the body." I said. "You should be able to lift it. It's probably heavy."

He nodded without question. After he walked off, Emo Ben walked up to me.

"Am I-" he began to speak, but I interrupted.

"Yes. One of the arms." I said.

He nodded and walked away. I walked up to Gwen 10. I opened my mouth, but she beat me to it.

"I'll take his head. No problem." She said.

I shook my head.

"No, you take the other arm." I said. "I'm keeping the skull."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I'm keeping the skull! I want to keep the skull, okay?" I exclaimed.

She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." She said as she walked away. "You don't have to be such a jerk about it."

I turned to look at Punk Rock Ben.

"And that brings me to you. You'll take his tail home with you." I said.

"Whatever, dude." Punk Rock Ben replied, as he walked away from me.

I turned to look at Gwen 10, who was talking with my Gwen. I let out a sigh as I walked up to them.

 _This can't end well, them talking together._

I reached them and they both turned to face me in unison, which freaked me out to say in the least.

"Ben! How nice of you to finally join us!" Gwen said.

"Why are you two talking with each other?" I asked.

"What? You don't like that we're talking to each other?" Gwen 10 asked.

"Okay. No, I don't like seeing you two talking to each other." I said. "One of you is my girlfriend. And the other is an alternate version of my girlfriend, who made out with me last night."

Gwen looked at me.

 _Oh shit, I forgot that Albedo told her about what I-, I mean, what Gwen 10 did._

"Okay, I'm sorry that she kissed me! Okay?" I said. "Just don't mad, please?"

Gwen rolled her eyes at me.

"Why does everyone think that I'm made at either of you just because she kissed you?" she asked.

"So, you're not mad?" I asked.

"No!" Gwen exclaimed.

"But, I cheated on you!" I said.

"Jesus Christ." Gwen 10 said, rolling her eyes.

"Did _you_ kiss her?" she asked. "Did you guys bang?"

I blushed, as I saw Gwen 10 blush as well out of my peripheral vision.

"No!" I exclaimed, feeling flustered.

Just then, a very unpleasant and not at all appropriate thought passed through my mind.

"Jesus!" I said, as I shook my head and rubbed my eyes.

"What's the matter?" Gwen and Gwen 10 asked me in unison.

The way they spoke in unison sent a chill down my spine.

"Nothing." I said. "I just had an unpleasant thought, that's all." I said.

Gwen 10 and my Gwen exchanged glances, as if they knew what thoughts had just gone through my head. Gwen looked at Gwen 10.

"So, why didn't you want to talk about your Ben?" she asked.

Gwen 10 and I looked at each other, as an uncomfortable look came across her face. She looked back at Gwen.

"You can talk about it, Gwen 10." I said. "Even if you don't want to."

She let out a sigh.

"My Ben… He killed himself half a year ago." Gwen 10 said in a timid tone, as she put her hand over her eyes.

Gwen looked at me, with a shocked expression on her face. I knew the look in her eyes. It was as if she were asking me if it were true. And so I nodded. Gwen looked back at Gwen 10, the shock still on her face. And then, to my surprise, she hugged Gwen 10.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Gwen said.

Gwen 10 didn't return the hug. Or at least if she did, she didn't return the hug for very long.

"Don't." Gwen 10 said, as she pulled away from the hug, stepping away from my Gwen and crossing her arms. "Stop giving me sympathy. I'm tired of hearing people say the same things to me."

Gwen looked at me with confusion.

"She doesn't like talking about it." I said.

She turned to look at Gwen 10.

"How did it happen?" she asked.

"I said, she doesn't like-" I began to speak, but it didn't matter.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Gwen 10 exclaimed. "So just shut up about it!"

Gwen just looked at her in shock. Eventually she got over her shock and spoke.

"I guess there's nothing else to talk about then." She said.

"No, there isn't." Gwen 10 replied, still looking away from us.

Gwen looked back at me and I just shrugged. Gwen looked at Gwen 10 once more.

"I feel like I should at least say something." She said, in a questioning tone.

"No. Don't say anything." Gwen 10 said. "Just shut up about it. Please."

Gwen sighed.

"Okay. The subject has been dropped." She said.

"Thank you." Gwen 10 said.

Old Man Ben walked up to us as the conversation ended.

"Okay everyone, as much as I know you'd like to stay and chat some more, we have to get a move on." He said. "Everyone collect your assigned body part and report to me."

I turned to look at Old Man Ben out of confusion.

"But how will you guys be able to get back?" I asked. "You haven't invented that return pad or whatever yet!"

Old Man Ben just smirked at me.

"Kid, you really think that we didn't come prepared?" he asked, as he fished out a small box looking object.

He set it down onto the ground and it opened up into a pad. Then, a bluish-purple portal formed on the pad.

"It's a prototype that I worked on all night last night, while working on the communicators." He said. "It's only good for one use though."

I just looked at him. He eventually stuck out his hand and I took it. We shook hands as he smiled at me.

"Thank you for helping us restore order to my dimension." He said, as we continued to shake hands.

"No problem, Old Man Ben." I said. "Always a pleasure working with you. It's been fun, to say the least."

We let go of one another's hands. He turned to the portal.

"Everyone take your time saying your goodbyes." He said. "And then head through the portal."

He was about to step through the portal, but I stopped him.

"Wait, what about the return pad?" I asked. "What will happen to it when all of you guys are gone?"

He turned back to look at me.

"Don't worry about it." He said. "Once all of us leave, I'll cut the connection from the other side and the portal will shut. I already had said that the pad was only good for one use only, so it's no use to us after the first use."

"Okay. Whatever." I said.

Then, Old Man Ben looked up at the sky.

"Paradox, once we leave, you can resume the normal time flow!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, Old Man Ben." I heard Paradox's voice from somewhere up above.

"Paradox is here?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's here. We asked him to help out by pausing the time flow." He said.

"He can do that?" I asked.

"Of course he can. Why do you think that we haven't attracted attention?" he asked. "Paradox paused the time flow, that way we could go about our business in private. We don't need anyone to know that there are multiple versions of ourselves."

"Makes sense." I said.

"I'm glad you agree with me. Take care of yourself kid." He said, as he stepped back up to the portal. "See you soon."

I watched as he walked through the portal, with Ghostfreak's main body in his arms. Emo Ben was the first one to say his goodbyes. He said goodbye to me and shook Gwen's hand, just to be polite.

And then, he turned to face Albedo. They just stared at each other. This was going to be the moment. They were going to hug and accept the fact that they can consider one another friends after all they've been through. And then, they did something that surprised me, to be frank.

"I won't miss you." They said in unison.

We all laughed at one had just transpired, all except for Gwen, who didn't really get Albedo and Emo Ben's relationship. Emo Ben collected the part I assigned to him and walked through the portal.

Eventually, everyone else said their goodbyes and Gwen 10 was the only one left with us. She looked at me as she let out a sigh. She stepped up and hugged me. I hugged back, out of instinct.

"Goodbye, Ben." She said. "I hope that the future will be kind to you."

"I hope that the future is kind to you, too." I said. "It's been a pleasure knowing you."

She smiled at me as she pulled away from the hug.

"Thank you for guiding me." She said. "And thank you for cheering me up."

"Hey, it's what friends are for, isn't it?" I asked her.

She smiled in return before turning to Gwen. She stuck out her hand and Gwen took it, and they shook.

"Thank you for, you know, looking after him while he was away." Gwen said.

"Don't mention it." Gwen 10 said, as she smiled.

Then, Gwen 10 leaned in to whisper into her ear. If it weren't for the enhanced hearing that the Omnitrix granted me, I wouldn't have heard what she said.

"You're a lucky girl." Gwen 10 whispered into Gwen's ear.

Gwen immediately blushed as Gwen 10 stepped back from her. She just looked at Gwen 10 with shock and embarrassment.

" _You're a lucky girl?"_ _What does that mean?!_

"Don't say anything." Gwen 10 said to her. "You know what I mean."

Gwen just stared at Gwen 10 as she walked up to the portal. I watched as she stepped up to the portal. Before walking through she turned back around.

"Paradox, you can resume the time flow!" she exclaimed.

"Already have." A voice from above said.

I looked around, to notice that the sun was moving in the sky again. And cars occasionally drove up and down the street next to my house once more. I looked back at Gwen 10, who looked back. She eventually smiled and waved at me, before walking through the portal without another word.

Once she was gone, it only took a minute or two for the portal to wink out. I begin to scratch at my neck once the portal had winked out. I looked down at the ground, as if I felt like something was missing.

As I was thinking to myself, I noticed that the return pad went up in flames and began to burn away.

"Well, he never told me _that_ would happen." I said with surprise.

I continued to watch the pad burn, until the flames fizzed and went out, leaving nothing but a black spot my lawn. I felt someone touch my shoulder. I turned around to look at Gwen.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're safe." She said, as she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me into a kiss.

We kissed for several seconds, until I heard Albedo speak.

"Fuck you guys, I'm going inside." He said.

Gwen and I pulled away from our kiss to look at him. He stormed inside of the house and slammed the door behind him. Gwen looked at me in confusion.

"What's with him?" she asked. "He seems even angrier than he was a couple days ago."

"A couple days ago? What do you mean?" I asked.

"You left only a couple days ago." She said. "You were gone only two or three days. How do you want me to say it?"

"I was in Old Man Ben's dimension for almost a week and a half, Gwen!" I exclaimed. "There was no way I was gone for only a couple days!"

"But you were!" she protested.

I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. I won't argue with you." I said.

"Anyway, what's wrong with Albedo?" she asked.

"We found out while we were away that he was experimented on by the Forever Knights." I said. "Well, we all were, but he was injected with alien vampire DNA, as well as alien werewolf DNA."

"Wow!" Gwen said. "Will he be alright?"

I snorted.

"What do you care?" I asked. "You hate him."

"Ben, that's not fair." She said. "I do care for him; I just don't let him know that I care. I don't want him to get the idea that we're really friends."

"Why would you think like that?" I asked. "Albedo is my brother! All he wants to do is gain your trust, and you just won't let him!"

"There's something off about him!" she counteracted my statement. "Will he be alright, or not?"

I shook my head.

"No, he won't be okay. Unless he gets an antidote to counteract the effects that the DNA has on him." I said. "I think that I'll take him up to see Grandpa Max tomorrow. Maybe he can help us out."

"What does he need an antidote for?" she asked.

"The DNA is changing him. He could turn into a full werewolf if he goes untreated." I said. "And if he does that, he won't be able to distinguish friend from foe."

"Jesus." She said.

"Look, I'm going to go in." I said, as I walked up to where Ghostfreak's body once was.

I picked up his head and walked towards the front door.

"What are you going to do with that?" she asked me.

"I'm going to put it in my souvenir box." I said. "Where his other skull was kept."

"So what, like a trophy?" she asked.

"I don't know." I said, before walking into the house.

I walked down to the basement and into the laundry/storage room. I approached the box where I had kept his skull and knelt down in front of it to open it. Once I opened it, I dropped Ghostfreak's head, surprised with what I saw.

His skull stared back at me. I narrowed my eyes, as I picked up the head that I cut off from his body. I put his head in the box with the skull. I don't know why, but I got the feeling that this Ghostfreak and the Ghostfreak that had tormented me a week or so ago, were not the same alien.

 _Later That Night_

The rest of the day consisted of nothing exciting in particular. I read through a comic book or two, played video games with Albedo and after that, later in the evening, we all watched the third season of Red Vs. Blue. Or was it the fourth season? I wasn't sure.

But after that, I went to take a shower ( _ALONE_ ). As much as I would love to have Gwen shower with me again, I needed to have time to reflect on all of the crazy shit that had happened and all of the stuff that I saw while in Old Man Ben's dimension.

Don't get me wrong, the experience was definitely fun. Some of it, I just couldn't get out of my head. Like Gwen 10 kissing me. Even though I never kissed her back, I felt like a bad boyfriend to Gwen. I felt guilty, even though I did nothing wrong. And as weird as it may sound, the fact that Gwen was okay with what happened, didn't sooth my thoughts either.

After showering, I had gone to the room that Gwen and I now shared after getting dressed. I laid down on the bed and was trying to get some sleep. As I was falling asleep, I subconsciously heard the door open. After that, someone flopped down onto the bed next to me. I opened my eyes and sat up a little, as I noticed Gwen next to me.

"Oh, did I wake you?" Gwen asked, cocking her head at me. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." I said. "I wasn't fully asleep anyway."

"Good." Gwen said, as she smirked. "Because I'm not sorry."

I just chuckled.

"Where did you go after we finished watching RVB?" she asked, using the abbreviation for Red Vs Blue that Albedo and I used.

"I went to shower." I said.

"You could have asked me." She said, as she gave me a sad look. "I would have gladly showered with you."

"I know you would have." I said. "But I needed to reflect on what happened during my time away."

She said nothing and I looked down at the bed. Gwen grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her.

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" she asked. "Tell me."

I sighed.

"It's fine." I said. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

She said nothing. As I stared off into space, she looked back me after a few minutes.

"You said you had gotten an unpleasant thought while Gwen 10 and I were talking." She said. "Do you feel comfortable talking about it?"

I looked at her, not willing to speak.

"Please?" she asked. "We said that we could always tell each other anything."

I finally sighed.

"I just had a thought, which involved you and Gwen 10." I said, in a vague tone.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "What kind of thought was it?"

I sighed, as I looked up into her eyes. She must have been able to see the small glint of mischief in my eyes. Her eyes widened once she saw it.

"You are such a pervert!" she exclaimed, as she playfully slapped me on the chest.

"I can't help it, I'm a guy! It's only natural!" I said as I laughed, as I sat up, moving away from her. "Besides, I don't like the thought of it!"

"I don't care! It's not right to have a thought like that!" she exclaimed. "Regardless if you want it to happen or not, it can't happen!"

"I just said that I don't like the thought of it!" I protested.

"I don't care!" she repeated.

She opened her mouth to say something else, but I beat her to it.

"Shut up, Gwen." I said, as I laid down on top of her, kissing her as I did.

The kiss muffled the sound of her voice, as she kissed me back for a few seconds. After those few seconds, she resisted the kiss as she pushed me off of me.

"Down boy!" she exclaimed, as she sat up as I did, wiping her lips as she did.

I looked at her, as she finished wiping her lips. She stared at me, as I noticed a mischievous look in her eyes, a smirk growing on her face too. This freaked me out a little bit, I will admit it.

"You're going to pay for that!" she said, as she lunged towards me. "Come here, you!"

She aggressively pushed me down and she laid down on top of me, once I had my head on the pillow. I wrapped my arms around her waist and she put her arms around my neck, as we began to make out furiously.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that brings Chapter Sixty Six, as well as Omniverse to a close. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

* So, Ghostfreak is dead. Again. Does anyone think that Ben's theory is correct, that he didn't kill Ghostfreak again, but he just killed an alternate Ghostfreak? While I'm on the topic of Ghostfreak, when he referenced "The Ghostfreak Corps", what did you guys think when he brought that up? Do you guys have an opinion on what The Ghostfreak Corps is? Speculate all you want, but they won't appear anytime soon.

* Does Gwen's reaction to Gwen 10 kissing Ben surprise you? That she's okay that she kissed Ben? What thought did you think Ben had, regarding Gwen 10 and his Gwen? I won't say anything about it. So, what did everyone think of the departure of the Omniverse Crew, the goodbyes from Emo Ben, Gwen 10 and Old Man Ben in particular.

* Anyway, in the next story arc, a new character will make their debut. And if you paid attention during the arc that introduced the Forever Knights, you'll know which character I'm referring to. That's all I'll say. So, I'm going to go though. Have a fantastic weekend and bye.

Next Chapter: Seeking to rekindle their friendship, Kevin makes contact with Ben again. Cooper calls Ben back over to his warehouse. The Forever Knights unleash their secret weapon.


	68. Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part 1

Chapter 67: Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part One

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty Seven, as well as the next story arc!

* I won't confirm which character will be making their debut in this chapter, but from the story arc's title, you should be able to tell who the character is. Speaking of the chapter title, the title will be a little different on the site this time around. Due to the maximum amount of characters that a chapter title can be made up of, I'm cutting out the word "Chapter" and the chapter number, so it's only the title of the story arc, followed by the part number, if that makes sense.

* This chapter will be set in two different time frames. That's pretty much all I got. And the chapter begins!

 _Ben_

 _Present Day_

As I ran from my assailant, I jumped down to another adjacent rooftop. Gwen landed next to me, in her Lucky Girl costume. We both took cover behind two different brick pillars, both of us panting and sweating from the chase that we've been in.

"Where is she?!" I asked in a frantic tone. "Where did you last see her?!"

"I don't know!" she whispered to me. "She's fast, I'll give her that! I think she was a couple rooftops away the last time I saw her."

I grunted in pain, as I tried to continue standing.

"Are you alright?!" Gwen asked with worry. "Are you're wounds giving you too much trouble?! We can stop if you need to!"

I grunted once more, as I straightened back up.

"No." I said. "We have to keep going. We can't stop here. She'll catch up to us soon."

"What about Albedo?" Gwen asked. "Have you seen him?"

I shook my head, disregarding her question. As much as I hated to, I had to admit the truth.

"Forget about Albedo, Lucky Girl." I said. "Albedo's gone. And he's never coming back."

Gwen looked at the ground. Just then, we both picked up on how silent it was. We didn't hear the pitter-patter of footsteps running across the rooftops.

"Do you think that we can make a run for it?" I asked, as I leaned towards her a little.

Before she could even answer my question, out of nowhere, a blade flew past my head and tore through my jacket and shirt sleeves, cutting into my arm. I let out a scream of pain, as I ran forward. Gwen sprang from the pillar that she was taking cover from, and shielded me from the assailant.

"Run, Ben! Run!" she exclaimed.

"Get out of the way." My assailant said, in an emotionless voice. "I don't want to hurt you, I only need Tennyson."

"Well, if you want to get to him, you'll have to go through me!" Gwen exclaimed, as I ran. "Because I-"

Gwen was interrupted by the sound of what I could only describe as a "war cry", and the sound of a strike landing. I didn't dare turn around. I kept running as fast as I could. I jumped across to the next rooftop and continued running, as I heard the assailant's footsteps quickly following me.

I kept running for what seemed like forever. I had to get away from the assailant. Unfortunately, because of my previous wounds, I was slow and the assailant quickly caught up with me. I felt her grab me from behind, she gripped my shoulder hard and stabbed me in the opposite shoulders with one of her Twin Sais.

I gasped in pain, as she quickly pulled the blade out and pushed me down onto the floor of the roof.

 _This is me. You're probably wondering how I managed to get myself into this mess._

I began to crawl away from my assailant, as the wound in my shoulder created a trail of blood behind me. I heard her slowly following me as I crawled. I felt her grab my jacket and flip me over.

I stared up at Gwen. But, it wasn't the Gwen I knew. This Gwen had blonde hair, with dark blue eyes. She reached for my mask and gripped it, as aggressively pulled it off.

"I want to look into my victim's eyes as he dies." She said in a monotone, emotionless voice.

She pulled a dagger from her utility belt, but before she could use it on me, I summed up the strength to kick her in the jaw, which sent her to the ground.

"God damn it!" she exclaimed. "Son of a bitch!"

I flipped myself back over and began to grunt in pain, as I made another attempt to crawl away. My assailant was back up on her feet in no time. She put her foot down onto my back, preventing me from getting anywhere else. She then sat down on top of me, with her knee pressing into my back.

She grabbed my hair and pulled my head upwards. I grunted in pain, as she put her dagger up against my throat. I gasped in pain, as I felt the blade's edge dig into the flesh of my neck.

 _I think that maybe I should rethink my decision in trying to be a super hero..._

 _A Few Days Earlier_

The next day, I slept in a little. I was still asleep, very comfortable, when all of a sudden I felt a pair of lips gently touch my neck. My eyes snapped open and I quickly sat up.

"Hey, hey, hey." Gwen said, in a soothing tone. "It's me. It's just me."

I let out a sigh of relief, and I laid back down.

"What's wrong?" I asked, as I stared up at the ceiling.

"Someone's here to see you." Gwen told me.

I sat up, curious now. I looked at Gwen with curiosity.

"Who?" I asked.

"You should see for yourself." She said to me.

"Alright then." I said, as I got out of bed.

Before leaving the going to check to see who was here, I went to my room and changed into a short sleeved shirt and jean shorts. I walked out of my room, down the hall and to the living room. I walked up to the door and opened it. Once the door was open, I saw Kevin standing there.

"Kevin!" I exclaimed with fear, as I reached to activate the Omnitrix.

"Don't Ben, please." He said. "I'm not here to cause trouble."

I looked at him with caution.

"Then what are you here for?" I asked, not moving my hand from the Omnitrix.

"I just want to try to rekindle our friendship." He said. "I know that we haven't really been friends lately. And I'd like to change that."

I looked at him, as I cautiously took my hand off of the Omnitrix.

"Please, man?" he asked. "For old time's sake?"

I just looked at him, before I sighed.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked him, still being cautious.

"Let's play a game of Halo: Combat Evolved, okay?" Kevin asked. "For old time's sake?"

He was saying "for old time's sake" quite a lot, which I found weird. I eventually let out another sigh.

"Okay, you convinced me." I said, turning to Gwen. "Gwen, do you want to play?"

"Sure." She said, in an unsteady tone.

"Okay, I'm going to go get Albedo." I said. "Be right back."

 _Kevin_

Once Ben left, I looked over at Gwen. She looked back out of fear. I let out a sigh, as I stepped closer to her.

"Look, Ben's not the only one I need to talk to." I said. "I need to talk to you, too."

Her look of fear did not change.

"I'm sorry that I tried to kill you so many times." I said. "I wasn't in my right state of mind, I realize that now."

"Don't." she said. "I hardly trust you, but Ben _does_ trust you. So, I am trying my best to trust you."

She turned around and walked away from me.

"Don't make me regret my decision." She said.

She walked out of sight, leaving me alone in the living room.

 _Ben_

I had walked down to the basement and was talking to Albedo.

"So, you want to play?" I asked him.

"I don't know, man." He said, as he looked up at me. "I don't really feel all that great."

He didn't look too great. His eyes were sunken back and they were also bloodshot, as if he hadn't gotten any sleep. And his pale skin looked even paler, if that was possible.

"Jesus, man." I said. "Are you doing okay?"

He shook his head.

"I just said that I don't feel all that great." He said. "Were you not listening?"

I now noticed that he was visibly sweating.

"Okay dude, here's what we're going to do." I said. "After we all game for a while, we're going to go see my Grandpa Max."

"No, I'm fine. I don't need help." Albedo protested.

"Don't argue with me." I said, as I moved towards the stairs.

I walked back upstairs, where Kevin waited for me.

"Albedo isn't sure if he'll play or not." I told him. "He'll probably decide once we get the game set up."

"Okay." Kevin said, as he got up. "Let's go."

"Where did Gwen go?" I asked.

"She said that she was going to the room that you guys share." He said. "She'll probably catch up."

I shrugged, but walked towards the basement stairs nonetheless.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

We had started the game and Albedo had eventually decided to play. Since it was the four of us, we decided to play a 2v2 Capture the Flag match on Blood Gulch. That type of match may sound weird, but it was what we ended up choosing, as it did mix things up a little, compared to what we usually played. Albedo and I made one team, while Gwen and Kevin made the other team.

Once the match started, Albedo told me to go across the canyon to Red Base, while he stayed in Blue Base to protect the flag. While walking on the cliffs in the canyon, I could have sworn I saw a Red Spartan heading in the direction of Blue Base, so I turned back.

I headed back to Blue Base, where I knew that Albedo was waiting for me. However, due to my paranoid feeling that I got, I was expecting either Gwen or Kevin waiting inside of Blue Base. So, when I ran inside, the first person I saw was Albedo.

And out of fear, I shot his character in the head with my Shotgun, killing him instantly. And saying that Albedo didn't take it well, would be an understatement. Albedo just sat there in silence, as he spawned outside of Blue Base.

"Ben, you fuck!" he exclaimed with anger.

I backed up into Blue Base out of fear, as Albedo charged towards the Base with an Assault Rifle in his character's hands. Oh, and I should mention that Kevin and Gwen were smirking and snickering as this went on. Albedo charged into Blue Base, firing at me with his Rifle as I ran.

"Albedo! Albedo, no!" I exclaimed with fear.

"Come here, you little shit!" he exclaimed as he ran after me in-game.

I jumped in an effort to dodge Albedo's gunfire, as he ran after me.

"Do you think we should pick them off?" Gwen asked Kevin, as I noticed that they both were standing on the cliffs parallel to us.

"Pick them off? Why would we do that?!" Kevin asked as he laughed. "I'm gonna go get some popcorn and watch the show!"

"Albedo, Albedo, wait! I can explain!" I exclaimed, as I turned around to face him. "It was just an accident!"

"Explain this, you little asshole!" he exclaimed, as his character hit my character with the butt of his Rifle, killing me in-game.

All of the stuff that I had been carrying flew around us as my character fell to the ground. I just stared at the screen in shock.

"There. Now come collect your crap!" he exclaimed, as his character began to run away.

I eventually made my way back over to the spot where Albedo had killed me in-game and collected the stuff that I had dropped. Only, I realized that my Shotgun wasn't on my body. So naturally, I assumed that Albedo had taken it.

"Um, Albedo?" I asked. "My Shotgun isn't here. I think that you may have taken it after I died."

"Yeah, I did take it." He said.

"Can I have it back?" I asked.

"Hmm?" he asked. "Oh yeah, sure man. Here you go."

He ran back over to me and traded my Shotgun for another weapon on the ground, as if nothing had just happened between us.

 _One Hour Later_

So, the game went like this: Albedo and I lost. Gwen and Kevin won, much to our surprise. I guess Albedo and I didn't really have the experience necessary to effectively perform as a team. But then again, neither did Kevin or Gwen! They hadn't played on a team together before today! So, how were they able to win so easily?

Well, that was all the time that Kevin had, for one game. So after the game, we shut off the Xbox and went upstairs. Or at least Kevin, Gwen and I went upstairs, while Albedo stayed in the darkness of the basement to be left alone.

Once we were upstairs, Kevin stood up in front of Gwen and I as we sat on the couch.

"Look, Ben. I came here to actually talk to you about something." He said. "Playing Halo: Combat Evolved was fun and all, but it was exactly what I said it would be: An attempt to rekindle our friendship."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"We need to talk about this." He said, as he closed his eyes, as if he were concentrating.

After several seconds, one of his arms became made up of the crystal that Diamondhead's "skin" was made of. And the other became made up of the charcoal-like surface that Heatblast's entire body sported. He opened his eyes to look at me, they being green instead of brown.

"You've learned to control it a little more?" I asked, as Gwen pushed her back up into the couch and took her feet off of the floor, possibly feeling threatened.

"Yes." He said, as he closed his eyes once more.

He grunted in pain a little, before his arms returned back to normal. I leaned forward, cupping my chin in my hands as I looked at him. Eventually, I sat back up and sighed.

"I want to take you to see my Grandpa Max." I said. "I think that he could potentially cure you of your condition."

To my surprise, Kevin shook his head no.

"No." he said.

"No?!" I exclaimed with surprise.

"No." he said again.

"But why?" I asked. "I thought that you'd want to be cured?"

"Although I appreciate the gesture, I have to say no." he said. "I did something that wouldn't have been advised. I absorbed that watch's energy and there were consequences. And now I have to live with it."

"No, you don't!" I said. "I'm sure that Grandpa Max can find a way to-"

"Don't interrupt me." Kevin said, as he flicked his hand. "I don't want to be cured. I have to face the consequences of my actions. I want to live with this mutation that I have. I want to try to teach myself how to use these powers for good, like you have done."

I let out a sigh.

"Why does everyone have to try following in my footsteps?" I asked, as I rolled my eyes.

"Who said this was about you? It's not." Kevin said, before he sighed. "Listen, I just want to try to teach myself to use this power correctly, so I can one day benefit from it."

Gwen and I looked at each other. I eventually looked back at Kevin, signaling for him to continue.

"I haven't been a very good friend lately. And I know that." He said. "I tried to kill the woman you love. And more than once, mind you! I tried to kill you, I tried to kill your friends and the worst deed that I did-"

He let out a sigh before he continued.

"I killed Enoch." He admitted.

I stood up in shock.

"You did what?!" I exclaimed with surprise.

"I killed Enoch." He repeated himself.

"How?! I saved Enoch from you!" I said.

He sighed once more.

"After the whole thing that went down at the Forever Knights' Tower, Enoch was sent to prison. I was angry that he'd be out soon and he wouldn't spend his whole life in prison." He said. "So, I tracked him down to a prison off of the coast of the U.S. and while the security cameras were down, I killed him in the prison courtyard."

I just stared at him in shock. He returned my look with a look of anger.

"I'm not proud of it." He said, glaring at me.

I finally let out a sigh, before sitting back down.

"It's okay." I said at last. "You probably just did what you thought was right."

"No Ben, I didn't do what I thought was right. I just wanted revenge on Enoch for what he did to us." He said. "And now I regret it."

"It's fine." I said.

"No, it's not fine!" he yelled.

Gwen cleared her throat, while I sat up in surprise. His look of anger eventually faded, and I saw a sorry look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I haven't been a very good friend. And I'm going to right my wrongs, one at a time." He said.

I smiled at him.

"And I want to be there every step of the way for you." I said.

He smiled back and chuckled, but I saw a sad look in his eyes. That made me nervous.

"I'm sure you would. But to start righting my wrongs, I need you do something for me." He said. "And it's something that you probably won't want to do."

"Oh, boy." I said in a nervous tone. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like what you have to say?"

He let out a sad sigh.

"I need you to stay away from me, Ben. I need to walk my own path." He said. "And as much as I hate to say it, I don't want you walking with me."

"What?! No!" I exclaimed as I stood up from the shock. "I'm your friend, Kevin! I want to help you!"

Kevin smiled sadly.

"You already have." He said. "You made me go from using my unique abilities to do common, boring things, to being able to turn into many different aliens. It's such a cool power and I couldn't thank you enough for letting me shake your hand that day! You gave me a new lease on life!"

I bit my lip in confusion.

"What will happen now, Kevin?" I asked. "I thought we were friends?"

"We are." He said. "And don't worry; I'll drop in every now and again. I just need to follow my own path for a while."

I just stared at him.

"Well, that pretty much sums up why I came up here." He said, as he turned towards the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get home. Haven't been in a while. Mom must be worried about me."

I looked up at him as he opened the front door and stepped outside.

"Take care of yourself!" I blurted out.

He turned around, smiling.

"You do the same, bro." he said, as he put his index and middle fingers to his forehead and pointing them at me, wordlessly saying farewell.

After that, he shut the door and walked down the grass, towards the sidewalk. I turned around and looked down at the floor. Surprisingly, I wasn't really sad about all of this. In fact, I don't know how I felt about it. Gwen got up from the couch and walked over to me, and hugged me. I returned the hug.

"He'll be back." She said.

"Hell yeah, he'll be back." I said. "I know that I've not seen the last of him."

We pulled back a little, but we remained in a hug, just so we could see each other's faces.

"So, what's next on the agenda for today?" she asked. "Are we just going to relax all day?"

I laughed.

"As much as I'd like to think that I'm due a break, I got stuff that needs to be done." I said. "And we need to get moving. I want to take Albedo up to Grandpa Max to have him looked at and after that, I want to go see Cooper, Julie's tech guy, to see if he's got my wrist gauntlets fixed yet."

Gwen smiled at me.

"Okay, I'll get my keys." She said.

"Okay." I replied back to her.

We should have separated to go do our various tasks, but we didn't. We remained in each other's arms, looking at each other.

"I love you." I said. "So much."

"You say that a lot." Gwen said, as she smiled at me.

"Yeah, I really do." I said. "But there's no way that you'll ever get me to stop saying it."

Gwen smiled once more.

"And I'm okay with that." She said.

We continued to stare into each other's eyes after that, before we pulled one another closer, and kissed for a few seconds. Eventually, we both pulled away.

"You go get Albedo." She said. "I'll get my car keys."

"Okay." I said, as I walked towards the basement stairs. "Albedo, come on!"

"What?" he called back up.

"I want to take you up to my Grandpa Max to be looked at!" I called down. "Now get up here!"

"No! Go away, Ben!" he exclaimed.

"Get up here!" I called back down to him.

I didn't get an answer from him.

"Albedo, don't make me come down there and drag you up here!" I exclaimed.

I heard him let out a growl of anger.

"Fine!" he called back up, as I heard him get up from the couch.

Once he had gotten upstairs, we left with Gwen and headed for my Grandpa Max's place.

 _Forty Five Minutes Later_

"So, you were thrust into an alternate universe where Vilgax had taken the title of Emperor and ruled over Bellwood?" Grandpa Max asked me.

"That's right." I said.

"Hmm." He said, as he scratched his chin. "Interesting. Now, what about the silver-haired kid? What's wrong with Albedo?"

"His condition is worsening." I said. "What can you tell us about the blood you took from him?"

"I'd like to take another blood sample from him, if I may." He said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Think of it as comparing notes." He said.

"Whatever. Go for it." I said.

Grandpa Max walked over to the lab that he kept in the Rustbucket and got a needle. Albedo slid up his sleeve, and Max put the tip of the needle in, collecting more blood from him.

"Now, if my theories are correct, I think that he was infected with alien werewolf DNA, along with alien vampire DNA." I said. "And I think that the DNA is changing him, to be a hybrid of the two. Is there a cure for it?"

"Well, you are right. He was infected with Vladat DNA and Loboan DNA respectively." He said.

"Vladat DNA and Loboan DNA?" I asked. "What's that?"

"Basically what you just said. An alien vampire and an alien werewolf." He said, as he walked back over to the microscope. "Hold on, this won't take too long."

Five minutes later, Grandpa Max came back over to us. He smiled at us.

"Well?" I asked as I shrugged.

"Good news or bad news first?" he asked.

"Good news." I said without hesitation.

"I can cure him. He's infected with a rare virus, but luckily he's not the only one to have it." He said. "Few other people were recorded to have it. The last recorded person to have the virus was cured with a serum crafted by S.E.C.T."

I let out a sigh of relief. That's when I realized it.

"What's the bad news?" I asked.

"It may take a few days to craft the serum." He said. "How long does he have, do you know?"

"When we were in Old Man Ben's dimension, he crafted a serum for him. It didn't cure him, but it slowed the virus's progress." I said. "Since he was injected several days ago, I'd say he has a day or two. Three days at the most."

Grandpa Max gave me a look of sympathy.

"I'm sorry, Ben." He said. "I'll get to work right away."

I turned around to look at Gwen and Albedo.

"I suppose it's time for us to be going then." I said. "Lot's to do today, Grandpa."

"Okay sport, I'll see you later. Bye Gwen, Albedo." He said.

I reached for the door, when Gwen came up to me.

"It's time to tell him." she said to me.

"Um, nope. Nope. It's not." I said. "Let's go."

"It's time to tell me what?" Grandpa Max asked, with his back to us.

Without hesitation, Gwen spoke.

"Ben and I are dating." She said. "We're together, as in a couple, Grandpa."

I looked at Gwen with horror.

"Gwen!" I exclaimed with shock. "Why the fuck would you do that!"

"Language!" Grandpa Max exclaimed in a stern tone.

I turned to look at Grandpa Max out of fear. He turned around to look at us.

"I have a feeling you were scared to tell me." He asked. "Why were you scared? Were you thinking that I wouldn't approve?"

I looked at Grandpa and then down at the floor.

"Yes." I said in a quiet tone.

When Grandpa Max said nothing, I looked up at him, to see him smiling at us.

"You're not in disapproval?" I asked.

He shook his head, as he continued to smile.

"Why?" I asked.

"It's not up to me." He said. "Do I think it's weird? Maybe. But at the end of the day, I can't judge. The only people that you would be scared of telling should be your parents, and they're traveling around the states right now."

"You're really not in disapproval?" I asked.

"I approve, okay! Telling your parents is the hardest thing that you two would have to do." He said. "But if they love you, which they do, they'll accept the relationship that you guys have and they'll know that you two can decide what's best for one another."

I smiled at him.

"Thanks, Grandpa." I said.

He just smiled back. I looked over at Gwen, who looked back at me with a smile on her face.

"I told you." She mouthed to me.

I took her hand in mine, all of a sudden sure that I could take on the world with Gwen.

 _One Hour Later_

We arrived at Cooper's Warehouse on the Riverfront an hour later. We got out of the car and I approached the door the warehouse and began to knock on the door in a "Shave and a haircut, two bits" tune. Eventually, I heard several locks from the inside disengage.

The door opened and Cooper stood in the doorway, with oil-covered coveralls on, as well as a set of mechanic goggles on his head.

"You're back!" he exclaimed. "I'm really glad you're here. Your stuff's ready and I was going to contact Julie later today."

"That's great, man." I said. "Show me inside!"

He moved out of the doorway and let the three of us in.

"Oh, ho-ho!" he exclaimed, upon seeing Gwen for the first time. "Who's this?"

"Don't get any big ideas, buddy." I said. "Her name is Gwen. And she's my girlfriend. We're a couple."

"Okay, Ben. I think he gets it." Gwen said.

"Honored to meet you." Cooper said, as he grabbed Gwen's hand and kissed it.

I slapped his hand away.

"Don't do that." I said.

"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, as she looked at me with a scowl.

"Sorry, it was too tempting." Cooper said. "Are you another Super Being?"

"Ha. "Super Being", is that really what you guys call us?" Gwen asked.

"Well, we certainly don't call you guys the Avengers." Cooper said.

"Nice reference." Albedo said.

"Thanks." Cooper replied.

"Anyway, where's my costume?" I asked.

Cooper walked over to one of the many tables in his lab. He picked up the bag that I had with me the last time I was here, and tossed it to me. I grabbed the bag from mid air and unzipped it. I looked inside, to see everything there. I pulled my jacket out, to see that there was now a harness on with, with various pockets on it.

"What's in these?" I asked.

"Smoke pellets." Cooper said. "Drop one and spew out smoke, making cover for you to escape or do anything else without being spotted."

"How many do I have?" I asked.

"Five." Cooper said. "The other pockets are for storing stuff of your choice."

"Cool!" I said.

"And your wrist gauntlets. I decided what the hell and replaced the cables entirely." He said. "They now use my most durable cables. You can now use them to swing over higher distances, as well as propelling yourself over longer distances."

"That's fantastic!" I exclaimed. "Anything else?"

"Uh, oh yes. I upgraded the sensors in your gloves. The sensors you used to stick to walls by way of static cling were faulty. That's why you couldn't climb on walls." He said. "I also replaced the sensors in your boots with the same sensors, so now you can literally crawl on walls."

"What am I, Spider-Man?" I asked.

Cooper just glared at me.

"Um, thanks." I said. "Anything else?"

He nodded, the glare not going away.

"I want to make more adjustments to your costume. For example, I want to make your lenses able to scan for technology and other useful stuff." He said. "And I'd also like to stitch durable, lightweight metal pads that provide additional protection."

"Would they stop bullets?" I asked.

"They should stop a knife." He said, with a confident look on his face.

Gwen looked at him.

"Could you make any enhancements to my costume, too?" Gwen asked.

"Sure. What do you wear?" Cooper asked.

"A skin tight, black leather costume." I said through gritted teeth.

"Sure. I'd love to give you a measure some time." He said.

I quickly zipped up my bag, put it on my back and grabbed Gwen's hand.

"That won't ever happen. Come on, Gwen." I said. "Thanks for the stuff, dude."

"Sure thing, man!" Cooper exclaimed. "Come back and visit me soon!"

"Ben!" Gwen exclaimed as she slapped my hand, as we walked towards her car, with Albedo following. "You're just jealous!"

"Bingo." I said.

 _An Hour And A Half Later_

When we arrived back home, I noticed something. Standing outside on our doorstep, was a figure as tall as Gwen, wearing a black cloak with it's hood over their head, keeping me from seeing their face.

We pulled up into the driveway and Gwen put the car in park, as she shut off the engine.

"What is that?" she asked.

"I don't know." I said, as I opened my door. "But we should find out."

I stepped out of the car and walked up to the figure, with Gwen and Albedo in tow. We stopped at least three feet from the figure.

"Are you Benjamin Kirby Tennyson?" the figure asked in a feminine voice.

Also, the voice was eerily familiar.

"Um, yeah?" I asked. "Who wants to know?"

The figure reached up to their hood and pulled it down. Once their face was in view, I stared in shock. I was staring right at Gwen's face! Only this Gwen had platinum blonde hair, tied back into a ponytail, slightly pale skin compared to Gwen and dark blue eyes.

"Um, Gwen?" I asked. "Is someone playing a prank on me? It's you!"

Gwen was obviously too shocked to speak, as she said nothing.

"In the name of the Forever Knights, you are to come with me at once." The person said, in an emotionless voice.

"Are you kidding me?!" I exclaimed. "I'm not going back to that tower, nor am I going anywhere with you!"

"Then you leave me no choice." She said.

She unclipped her cloak and it fell down in a circle around her ankles. I noticed that she wore light gray combat armor, with matching light gray boots and gloves. Strapped to her chest, hung an assorted collection of what looked like explosive devices. I also noticed that several combat knives, daggers and other assorted blades hung from her utility belt.

She reached around to her back and pulled out a matching pair of Twin Sais. Upon seeing this, Gwen and Albedo took up fighting stances. A chill ran down my spine, as the cloned Gwen approached me.

"Run." I whispered.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"Run!" I exclaimed.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the chapter! What did you guys think of the start of this new arc?

* What do you think was going on at the beginning of the chapter? What did everyone think of the temporary goodbye for Ben and Kevin? You should be able to see that Albedo's aggression is growing.

* So Grandpa Max is accepting of Ben and Gwen's relationship. Do you think their parents will be accepting of their relationship, upon their return? What did you guys think of the advancements to Ben's costume? Ben was jealous of how Cooper was low key flirting with Gwen.

* Don't mistake what you read at the end there, guys. This is Sunny. She's finally arrived in the story! If anything looks familiar or sound familiar, well, Sunny is the Elektra of this Ben 10 universe, I guess? How do you think the gang will defeat Sunny? Will they convince her to rebel from her leader?

* That's all for this time. I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye!

Next Chapter: While on the run from The Assailant, Ben is wounded. Albedo shows signs of the early stages of going full werewolf.


	69. Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part 2

Chapter 68: Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part Two

 _ **Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Sixty Eight!

* So in this chapter, Ben and Co. are going to be running from Sunny, who won't be properly named for a while. That's all I'm going to say about this chapter.

* So with that being said, the chapter begins!

 _Ben_

We continued to back up from the Assailant as she approached us still.

"What are you doing?!" I hissed. "I said, run!"

"You first." Gwen whispered.

Albedo activated his Dark Omnitrix as I pondered what I should do. This lady, who looked a lot like Gwen, was wielding Twin Sais. And not only that, she had explosive devices with her, as well as many other assorted blades. Albedo transformed into Dark Fourarms.

"Screw it." I said, as I turned and ran.

 _Gwen_

As soon as Ben ran off, the lady charged to follow him, but Albedo and I intervened. Albedo, in his Dark Fourarms form, tried to restrain her. As he was doing that, I approached her.

"What do you want with Ben?" I asked.

"That is none of your concern!" the lady said, before trying to kick me.

I saw the attack coming and created a pink Mana Shield in front of my face, blocking the attack. Once she had stopped trying to break my shield, I allowed it to disappear so I could talk with her again.

"Okay, let's try this again. What do you want with Ben?" I asked. "Are you going to cooperate this time?"

The lady gave me an evil look, but spoke nonetheless.

"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson is wanted for crimes against the Forever Knights." She said. "I was contracted to bring him in or kill him, depending on how cooperative he is."

"Okay, two things here. One, you're not getting anywhere near Ben now." I said. "And two, we did nothing wrong. We're the good guys, not the Forever Knights."

"Good or bad is irrelevant to me. I am neutral in this conflict." She said. "All I'm supposed to do is what I was hired to do. And I'll side with whichever side has the most money."

Before I could respond, she broke free of Albedo's grip and did something that surprised him, as well as me. She began tapping on the Dark Omnitrix's hourglass symbol on his forehead and after that, he transformed back into his human form.

"What?!" Albedo exclaimed, backing up from her in surprise. "How did you do that?!"

"My employers have told me everything that I need to know about the Omnitrix and the device you call the "Dark Omnitrix"." The lady said. "I was told how to revert you two back to your human forms if necessary. And I know everything about you three. For example, you are a clone of Benjamin Kirby Tennyson."

She turned to look at me.

"And you. You are a Human-Anodite hybrid." She said.

 _What does that name mean?_

"And now for Benjamin Kirby Tennyson. I know that you and he are dating." She said.

 _How?_

She let out a sigh, as she crossed her Twin Sais across her chest.

"Okay. Now that you've forced me to explain myself, much to my chagrin, stop trying to interfere with my mission." She said, as she turned around to follow the path that Ben had taken. "Don't interfere again. Or I'll come after you two next. After all, you two are my optional objectives."

She turned to look at us, sporting a sinister grin.

"I'd consider it a bonus." She said, before turning around once more.

As she began to walk off, Albedo and I looked at each other. I nodded at him and he nodded back. Before we could approach the lady, Albedo looked up and spoke.

"It's Alien Guy!" he exclaimed, as he pointed.

"Huh?" the lady asked, as she and I both looked in the direction that Albedo was pointing in.

Ben, now wearing his costume, fired his wrist gauntlet and the hook lodged itself into a tree behind the lady. He then zipped towards her and kicked her in the shoulder, sending her to the ground. He continued to zip towards the tree, until he flipped and landed on it, so that he was facing us and the lady.

"Ugh..." I heard the lady groan, as she got up from the ground.

She turned around to look in Ben's direction once she had stood up.

"Tennyson, you're going to pay for that!" she exclaimed.

 _How does she know that Alien Guy is Ben? Well, now that I think of it, she did say that she knew everything about us. Uh, we may be in trouble._

 _Ben_

I stuck to the tree, as I watched the lady slowly walk towards me.

"Can we talk about this?" I asked.

She didn't answer, as she kept walking towards me.

I looked over at Gwen.

"Run." I said.

She shook her head.

"No! We'll fight with you!" she exclaimed.

"How very noble. It doesn't matter to me." The lady said, as she continued to approach us. "If I kill all three of you, it's just more money that I get paid."

 _Hmm. Pure mercenary to the core._

I jumped off of the tree and approached her.

"Look, we can talk about this. I am not coming with you and I will not allow you to kill me." I said. "But we can talk about this."

She still didn't answer, as she got closer still.

"Ben, what are you doing?!" Gwen exclaimed. "Run!"

When I turned to look at her, I wanted to lecture her on the importance of having a secret identity, but I needed to tell her something else that was important.

"And I told you to run!" I said.

While I was looking at Gwen, I heard the lady let out a war cry while I wasn't looking. I turned just in time, to dodge one of her Twin Sais, as she tried to stab me.

"What the fuck?!" I exclaimed, as I kicked her in the stomach.

She backed up a little bit, but other than that, it didn't seem to have an effect on her. She recovered almost immediately and went back to attacking me. She tried to stab me once again, but I grabbed her Twin Sais and stopped her from doing so. I tried to push her back, but as embarrassing as it may sound, I think she was stronger than me!

As she tried to push me back down, I kicked her in the knee, sending her backwards. Knowing that it wouldn't take long for her to recover, I flipped backwards, kicked off of my feet and landed feet first on the tree trunk. I then kicked myself off of the tree, sending myself soaring towards my assailant.

Once I reached her, I punched her in the jaw. She cursed in pain as she recovered and charged at me once more. Albedo got in the way and blocked her from getting to me.

"Go now!" Albedo exclaimed, as he countered all of her attacks. "Run!"

"No, this is my fight!" I exclaimed.

"Run, God damn it!" he yelled back to me.

As much as I didn't want to, I ran off once more, leaving Gwen and Albedo behind.

 _Albedo_

As I watched Ben run away again, the lady turned, ready to follow him. I grabbed her arm and turned her towards me.

"I don't think so." I said. "You're not going anywhere."

She smiled, as she holstered her Twin Sais behind her back.

"Albedo, the third wheel. And the one who was infected with Vladat and Loboan DNA." She said. "I'm only going to ask you once to take your hand off of me."

Just her mentioning of me being a third wheel pissed me off. I tightened my grip on her wrist.

"That's the idea." The lady said. "Firmly grasp it."

Although it did weird me out, I did have to say it was an excellent SpongeBob Squarepants reference. It probably wasn't her intention, though.

"Albedo, Albedo, Albedo." She said in a low voice. "Poor kid. Have you told your friends yet, that you only have a precious thirty two hours left before you turn?"

I looked at her in disbelief. I didn't know if that was true or how she knew it. Eventually, I moved on from the subject.

"I'm not afraid to hit a girl." I said in a smug tone.

She smirked at me.

"Do it, bitch." She replied.

I used my free hand to try to punch her in the face, but she quickly caught my hand with hers! And not just that, but it felt like she was crushing my hand in hers! I eventually kicked her in the stomach, and she freed me. She stumbled backwards, but was back on her feet in no time.

I don't know how, but as I got ready to attack, she was on me before I could even get into a fighting stance. Maybe it was because she was quicker than all of us.

"Nighty-night, sweetie!" she exclaimed, before punching me in the face.

She must have hit me hard, because after that, everything went black.

 _Gwen_

The lady punched Albedo in the face, sending him to the ground. He didn't move after that. She hadn't even broken a sweat. She took out a pair of glasses and put them on. They must have been an electronic type of glasses, because she tapped something on the side.

"Don't follow me." She said. "This is your last warning."

And with that, she turned around and ran down the path that Ben had taken. Once she was gone, I snapped out of my thoughts and ran to Albedo.

"Albedo!" I exclaimed. "Wake up!"

I slapped his cheeks, trying to get him to come to. He wasn't conscious. I looked around frantically, trying to decide what to do. I eventually got up and ran inside of the house to get my costume on.

 _Five Minutes Later_

I ran out of the house, now dressed in my leather costume. The jewel had been clipped around my waist, which changed my appearance back to black hair with blue eyes. Such as I ran outside, I noticed that Albedo was waking up.

"Albedo, we got to go!" I said, as I ran up to him.

He turned to look at me.

"Gwen?" he whispered my name, as he held his head. "What happened?"

"That lady is going after Ben!" I exclaimed. "And we have to find him before she does! Let's go!"

I ran off without even seeing what he would say.

"Yep. I'll be right behind you." I heard him say from behind me.

 _Ben_

 _Sometime Later_

 _Downtown Bellwood_

I ran through the alleys of Downtown Bellwood, with the assailant hot on my tail. I looked behind me to see, sure enough that she was right behind me. Thinking that I would eventually have to fight her and not wanting to fight her on the ground, I grappled up to the rooftops.

Once I was up there, I looked back down to her, panting as I did. I was about to call down to her when she did something that surprised me. She jumped up towards a wall to her right and used her leg to kick off of the wall, getting herself up higher.

She continued to alternate between doing that and kick flipping off of the alley's walls to get up to me. I backed away from her, as she jumped up onto the rooftop with me.

 _Whoever she was, she was extremely acrobatic._

As much as I didn't want to fight her, I knew she wasn't interested in talking this out, so I threw a punch at her. She caught my fist in her hand and kicked me in the stomach several times. The last kick she made sent me to the floor of the rooftop.

She reached around to her back to grab her Twin Sais, obviously ready to finish me off. Before she could though, I rolled up onto my shoulders and used them to force myself back up, kicking her in the chest as I went up. I went forward a little and landed back on my feet.

She had recovered in no time, much to my chagrin. I ran to her to continue fighting her. I threw a punch once again, but yet again, she caught my fist in her hand. While my fist was in her hand she head butted me with force, sending me backwards. Just then, I heard Gwen's voice.

"Alien Guy!" she called out, getting my attention.

I looked around for the source of her voice and I eventually saw her in her costume, along with Albedo, only a few rooftops away. I reached out my hand at them.

"Lucky Girl, no!" I exclaimed with worry.

The assailant in front of me paused and turned around to look at them for a second, before turning to look at me once more.

"Ah, perfect timing!" she said. "They're just in time to witness your downfall!"

"Shut up!" I exclaimed, as I got up and threw a punch at her.

She blocked the punch with her forearm, after which she punched me in the jaw. I stumbled backwards a bit, but she didn't stop there. She punched me in the face again, again and again. Say after the fifth punch, she punched me so hard in the face that one of the lenses in my mask shattered.

I fell to the ground after that. I pushed myself up onto my shoulder and tried to get away from her. She slowly walked over to me as I tried to get away from her. She grabbed by my shirt and I shit you not, she picked me up with one hand!

I watched as she took out one of her Twin Sais with one hand and she swung it forward.

"No!" I heard Gwen exclaim with distress.

I felt a sharp pain in the pit of my stomach, as well as the fact that now my lower abdomen felt wet. I looked down, to see that her Sai was embedded in my lower abdomen and may or may not have been protruding out of my back. She had stabbed me in the stomach.

I looked into my assailant's eyes, seeing no emotion whatsoever in her eyes. In fact, her face in its entirety showed no emotion.

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

She removed the Sai from my stomach, which caused me to drop to the floor of the roof. I didn't even try get up. I looked up at my assailant, who put her Sai away. She knelt down and grabbed me by the neck.

"Don't worry." She whispered. "It'll all be over soon."

Before she could do whatever it was she had planned to do, most likely she was going to attempt to snap my neck; I heard Albedo let out a yell of rage. He must have moved fast, because he had pounced onto my assailant's back in seconds. He was digging his teeth into her neck, as if he were a dog.

Well, to be fair, he had Loboan DNA coursing through his veins, so I guess it was justified? Now, this was the part that surprised me. Instead of screaming in pain, my assailant began giggling.

"Stop it, stop it!" she exclaimed as she continued to giggle. "That tickles!"

My assailant elbowed Albedo in the jaw, sending him backwards. Just as she turned around to look at Albedo now on the floor of the roof, I summed all of the strength I could to force myself back up. I put one of my hands onto my stomach wound, to prevent any more blood from coming out.

"You try to kill me?!" I exclaimed, as I tried to punch her.

She spun around and dodged I punch. She then kicked me in the shin and I grunted in pain, as I took my hand off of my stomach in reaction to her attack. She walked closer, grabbed my shoulder and using her other hand, found my stomach wound and used her index and middle fingers to press into my wound.

I let out a scream of agony and after a few more seconds, she took her fingers out of my wound and let go of me, allowing me to fall back down. My assailant turned around to face Albedo once more.

"This will be the last time that you try to interfere with my job." She said, as she took out her Twin Sais.

"No…" I croaked, as I tried to get up, but ultimately didn't have the strength to do so.

My assailant was about to strike Albedo, when a hot pink shield appeared in front of him, preventing him from being struck.

"Lower your Mana Shield, please." My assailant asked Gwen.

"Never." Gwen said. "Leave now."

My assailant struck the shield with her Twin Sais, breaking Gwen's Mana Shield. She prepared to strike him once more, but Gwen ran over to us, creating steps of hot pink Mana. Once she was close enough, she jumped off of the steps that she had made and went into a ninja kick, nailing the assailant in the chin.

"Leave now!" Gwen exclaimed, her eyes now glowing hot pink. "Or I won't hesitate to kill you myself!"

I also picked up on the fact that she sounded slightly different at this point. My assailant began to get up, as she looked at Gwen. Gwen's hands began to glow hot pink, as she continued to stare down my assailant. She narrowed her eyes at Gwen before she finally spoke.

"How fascinating. I sense that your Mana abilities haven't fully awakened yet." She said. "And wearing that jewel around your waist isn't doing you any favors. It's so sad that you haven't reached your full potential yet."

"Leave!" Gwen exclaimed with anger, her eyes still glowing.

My assailant seemed to be thinking now.

"Hmm. I suppose that I've done enough." She said, as she turned to face me. "I don't have to stay and finish you off. I know for a fact that you'll bleed out. I've done my job. So I can leave."

My assailant walked backwards towards the edge of the rooftop and then allowed herself to fall backwards off of the building. Gwen ran over to the edge and looked down to the ground.

"She's gone!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Albedo asked. "What do you mean she's gone?"

"She's nowhere to be seen." She said, as she walked back over to me. "Ben, are you okay?!"

"Feel lightheaded." I croaked.

"You've lost a lot of blood, we have to get you to a hospital!" she exclaimed.

"No hospital. Call Julie." I croaked.

"Where's your phone?" she asked.

"My front jeans pocket." I croaked.

She reached into my pocket, as I let out a groan. She turned on my phone and opened up my contact list. She eventually found Julie's contact information and put my phone up to her ear. After several seconds, she moved the phone away from her ear.

"She's not answering!" she exclaimed.

"I don't - I don't-" I stuttered as I tried to comprehend what was happening.

I didn't even know where I was at anymore. I didn't even know what was happening either.

"We can't go to Julie!" Gwen said. "We have to go Grandpa Max, it's the only option we have! Albedo, transform into Stinkfly so you can-"

I stopped listening after that, because I had lost consciousness.

 _Sometime Later_

I regained consciousness at some point; I think when Grandpa was cleaning the wound in my stomach. That fucking hurt like hell; it's probably what woke me up. He may have used peroxide to clean my wound; I wasn't really sure.

Right after he had cleaned my wound and had cleaned up all of the blood, I think is when I was fully awake and aware of what was going on. Right now, he was stitching the wound in my stomach. According to him, that woman's Sai hadn't pierced through my back.

"Now, tell me how this happened again?" Grandpa asked.

"Some woman that looked exactly like me came after us and tried to kill him!" Gwen said.

"Nnngg!" I let out a yell of pain, as I tightly gripped Gwen's hand.

"A woman that looked exactly like you?" Grandpa asked.

"Yes. Now that I think of it, could the Forever Knights have cloned me?" she asked.

"If they got samples of your blood, then yes, they can." He said. "How did she get the jump on him? Why didn't he use the Omnitrix?"

"She knew exactly how to revert us back to human form!" Albedo exclaimed.

"And she was much faster than all of us!" Gwen said. "She was also strong, knocking Albedo out with one punch and shattering one of the lenses in Ben's mask after only three or four punches!"

"Faster _and_ stronger, huh?" Grandpa asked. "Hmmph, I smell a performance enhancer."

Gwen let out a gasp of pain, as I squeezed her hand as tightly as I could.

"Ben, could you please stop squeezing my hand so hard?" she asked with annoyance.

"No, don't stop squeezing her hand." Grandpa said. "As long as you're focusing on something and not focusing on the fact that I'm stitching your abdomen back together, it'll make it all the easier for me to work."

"Is there internal bleeding?" Gwen asked. "Did the assassin cut an artery or a vein?"

Grandpa shook his head.

"I don't think so." He said. "Besides, if she had cut an artery, he wouldn't have made the trip here."

Gwen gave me a look of fear as Grandpa said this. As Grandpa continued to work on me, I noticed that I was sweating a lot harder than I thought I was.

"How much longer will this take?" Gwen asked.

"Not long. Stitching him should only take a minute or two more." He said. "Then I'll just have to wrap his abdomen in an ace bandage and he'll be good to go. You are to get him home and get him laid down. He is not to move at all, do you understand?"

"Yes." Gwen replied.

Grandpa paused for a second to look at me.

"Do _you_ understand, Ben?" he asked.

"Nnngg!" I grunted with pain, as gritted my teeth to prevent myself from screaming again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said, as he went back to stitching me up. "Anything else I ought to know?"

"I can't think of anything." Gwen said.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked.

"Positive." Gwen replied.

"Oh, and that reminds me, I'm not a fan of your costume choice." He said. "We'll talk about that later, young lady."

I noticed Gwen blush out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't say anything. I didn't have the strength to say anything. A couple minutes later, Grandpa had finished stitching me up and was now bandaging my abdomen.

He had me sit up to the best of my ability, although with all of the pain in my gut, it was difficult. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Albedo was shifting a lot in his place.

"Albedo?" I croaked out his name, as I turned my head to look at him. "Are you alright?"

"I feel dizzy…" was all he said, before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell backwards onto the floor of the Rustbucket.

I just looked at him.

"What was that all about?" Gwen asked from her place next to me.

"Don't worry about it." Grandpa said. "The virus is just probably making it difficult for him to function normally. And yes, before you ask I'm still working on the cure."

I let out a sigh as he finished bandaging me up. He grabbed my leather jacket and put it over my shoulders.

"There, you're good to go." He said, before looking at Gwen. "Now you get him home and get him in bed. He's not to watch T.V., play video games, read comic books, he's just to sleep! I may have patched him up, but he needs to rest this off."

"Yes, Grandpa." Gwen said.

"Good. I'll carry Albedo out to your car." He said. "Once I've done that, I'll get a few grocery bags and put his costume into a few bags. And then you guys are out of here."

Gwen put her arm around my shoulder and helped me get up. She helped me walk out of the Rustbucket and out to her car.

"Albedo transformed into Dark Stinkfly to get us here." Gwen told me. "And after we got you here, he raced back home to grab my car and drove back here."

I just coughed in return to what she said. She opened the passenger side door and helped me sit down in the passenger seat.

"Just try to relax, okay?" Gwen asked. "We'll be home soon."

I nodded in return, not having the strength to say anything. Gwen got into the driver's side seat just as Grandpa came out of the Rustbucket carrying Albedo. Once he had gotten Albedo into the backseat and said his goodbyes to us, also telling me to be safe, we were off.

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

Albedo had woken back up once we had gotten home. He was the first one out of the car, complaining about a headache and telling us that he was going to bed. Actually, it seemed like everyone was going to bed.

Gwen helped me walk into the house and back to our room, where she sat me down on the bed. I was to wait there while she went to my room to get some fresh pajama pants for me. Once she returned, I took off the leather jacket, along with my jeans and carefully put on the pajama pants, while under her supervision.

She handed me a pair of fresh socks after that, which I was easily able to put on. After that, she pulled back the covers for me and helped me into bed. Once she had done that, she just stood by the bed with an uneasy look on her face.

"What?" I asked in a low voice.

She finally let out a sigh before speaking.

"Close your eyes." She said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" I asked in a quizzical tone.

A light pink blush appeared on her face as she looked back at me.

"I need to change out of my costume," she said, as she played with her hands. "And I don't want you to see me naked."

I smirked in response.

"Gwen, it's nothing I haven't seen yet. Remember when we showered together?" I asked. "I saw everything. _Everything_."

The blush on her face went from light pink to bright red. She sort of frowned/grimaced at me.

"If I don't want you to see anything, that's the way it has to be." She said, as the blush grew worse.

"Fine, I'll close my eyes." I said. "Does that help?"

She shook her head, as she moved to the edge of the bed, where she kept her bags on the floor. She came back with a short sleeved shirt.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked.

I got my answer when she used the shirt to literally blindfold me!

"Um, Gwen? Now I can't see anything." I said.

"That's the point." She replied.

I felt her tie the shirt into a knot on the back of my neck. Or did she double knot it?

"Gwen, I can just take this off." I said. "How does this help?"

"I don't trust you to keep your eyes closed." She said. "But I trust you enough to keep that on."

"That's weird." I said, as I heard her unzipping her costume.

I heard the costume fall onto the floor, or the top of it, at least.

"Uh, Gwen? Is this really necessary?" I said.

"Yes." She said, as I heard another part of the costume hit the floor.

"But, I'm your boyfriend! And you're my girlfriend!" I said. "Besides, I've already seen you naked once!"

"We've only been together for a week and a half or two weeks." Gwen said. "Don't get any big ideas, Doofus."

"Has it really only been that long?" I asked. "It feels like we've been together for half a year!"

"It's just you." She said, as I felt her quickly peck my nose.

"Hey, who said "don't get any big ideas", huh?" I asked. "Now you're teasing me!"

"That's the idea." She said, as I heard her walking away from the bed.

A few minutes passed and she removed the shirt she had used as a blindfold, and I was slightly disappointed that she was fully clothed. She was wearing pajama pants, with a short sleeved white T-shirt. She sat down on the edge of the bed next to me.

"You need to get to sleep." She said, as she gently rubbed my forehead.

I had another idea. I reached for her and gently put my hand on her shoulder.

"Come here." I said.

She rolled her eyes as she heaved a sigh, before coming closer and gently lying down on top of me. I took her face in my hands and gently kissed her. She returned the kiss and rested her hands on my bare shoulders. Maybe it was just that I felt lucky after surviving a stab wound to the stomach, but next, I pulled a stupid move.

I slipped one of my hands underneath Gwen's shirt. She opened her eyes as we kissed, shooting me a disapproving glare.

"Ben, stop." She said.

I slowly moved my hand up towards her chest and tried to touch her breasts, to see that she was wearing a bra.

"Ben, no!" she exclaimed, before she bit down on my neck.

"Ow, Ow, Ow!" I exclaimed, as pulled my hand back from under her shirt. "Okay, okay! I'll stop!"

She let go of my neck. She sat back up and got off of me.

"You can't do that, Ben." She said. "We're not ready to do that yet. We've only been together for a week and a half."

I just rolled my eyes. She smirked at me.

"Besides," she said, before leaning forward to whisper into my ear. "After everything you've been through today, I don't think you'd have the strength to do it."

She pulled away from me to look at me once more. I just stared back, with a shocked expression on her face.

"Jesus, Gwen." I said.

She giggled after I said that. Once she stopped giggling, a serious look came onto her face.

"Okay, seriously Ben, you need to get to sleep." She said, as she got up and turned out the light.

After the lights had been turned off, she got back onto the bed and pushed me down, so I was lying on my back. She got into bed next to me and pulled the covers up a little bit. She adjusted her pillow, that way she could prop herself up, while resting one arm on my semi-bare chest.

"Go to sleep, Ben." She said. "I'm going to stay up all night watching over you."

"Gwen, that's not necessary!" I said.

"Yes, it is." She said, as she gripped my head and turned it so that I face her. "No one's taking you away from me, my love."

After she said that, we shared a passionate kiss. Once she pulled away, she pushed me back down.

"Go to sleep." She said. "Everything will be fine, I promise."

I eventually heaved a sigh and rested my head on my pillow.

"Okay. Good night, Gwen." I said.

"Good night." She said. "Sweet dreams."

I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter! What did you guys think?

* Do you guys like Sunny as a villain/anti-hero type person? Does anyone feel like she's on the wrong side of the fence and she shouldn't be trying to assassinate Ben? Please do let me know your thoughts on this!

* Was it a bit of a shock to know that Ben was stabbed in the stomach? Of course, he's okay, but still. Julie wasn't available to save him this time, they had to rely on Grandpa Max to stitch and bandage him up.

* Albedo is getting worse and his turning into a full werewolf is getting closer. That's all I will say. Thank you guys for reading. I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.

Next Chapter: Ben's assailant returns to finish the job when she learns that he didn't bleed out on the roof as planned. Albedo causes complications for the trio.


	70. Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part 3

Chapter 69: Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part Three

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Welcome to Chapter Sixty Nine! This is Part Three of the Always Sunny In Bellwood arc!

* In this chapter, Sunny will be making her return in this chapter, which should have been expected. I won't say anything else. The chapter begins!

 _Ben_

 _The Next Morning_

My eyes opened as I began to slowly stretch underneath the covers. I let out a yawn, as I angled my head upwards a little, to see early morning sun shining through the curtains.

"Gwen?" I asked in a low voice.

When I didn't get an answer, I slowly sat up and looked to my right, to see that her side of the bed was empty.

"Hmm." I said. "Neat."

I gently kicked back the covers and I slowly, as well as gingerly, threw my legs over the side of the bed. I slowly got up from the bed and moved towards the door. I grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

I slowly walked out into the hallway and into the living room, where I saw Gwen sitting on the couch. Once she saw me, she got up with a look of concern on her face.

"Hey, you." She said in a cheerful tone, despite the look of worry in her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel fantastic!" I said. "I feel even better than I've ever felt!"

She reached me and put her arm around me, as if to help me walk. She guided me over to the couch and sat me down, before sitting down next to me.

"We should check your wound." She said. "I can re-bandage it after we're done."

I nodded.

"Okay, sure." I said. "Might as well get it over with."

She helped me stand up so she could gently take my bandages off. Once she had taken my bandages off, she let out a gasp of shock.

"Oh my God." She said.

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Ben, your wounds. I don't know how, but save for lightly discolored skin, they look fine!" she said.

"What?" I asked. "No way!"

I slowly walked to the bathroom, with Gwen in tow. Once I got it, I flipped on the light and looked into the mirror for myself. She was right. Minus the fact that there was light discoloring in my abdomen, and that it was bruised just a little bit, it could have passed for good as new.

"How?" Gwen asked. "That's impossible!"

"Not entirely impossible." I said, turning to face her. "Did I ever mention that I think the Omnitrix gives me a bit of a healing factor? Not Wolverine's healing factor mind you, but a healing factor nonetheless."

"And I'm going back to the question I asked you the day after we got together," Gwen said. "Is that thing changing your DNA? Are you even human anymore?"

I ignored her question.

"Back before you knew I was Alien Guy, I told you that you didn't have any powers or abilities." I said. "But even without that jewel that you wear around your waist, you must have suppressed abilities. Gwen, I hate to ask, but are we even related anymore?"

She slapped me as soon as I finished my sentence. After I recoiled from the strike, I looked back at her.

"What the-"

She interrupted me by pulling me into a passionate kiss, which lasted for almost a minute. She pulled away, but she kept her hands on my bare shoulders, as she panted from the kiss.

"Don't talk to me about your theories of us being related or not anymore!" she exclaimed. "You don't think that I have those thoughts, too?! Wake up, Ben! Whether we're related or not, I'd still love you!"

I was shocked.

"Who said this has anything to do with love? I'm just-"

I stopped speaking when I saw the look of hurt in her eyes. She looked like she was going to cry.

"No, no, no! I don't it mean it like that, Gwen! It has nothing to do with _our_ love." I said. "It's just-, It's just that with all of the stuff this thing can make me do, I question things. And all of the stuff that you can do, I question as well. And the question that keeps coming to mind is: "Are we even related anymore?" I just don't have an answer."

I grabbed Gwen and pulled her into a hug, which she gladly returned as she rested her head on my chest.

"I'm sorry I said that." I whispered.

She said nothing as she gently traced circles on my back.

"Ahem." I heard a voice.

Gwen and I broke apart, to see Albedo standing in the doorway to the bathroom.

"Are you two done?" he asked in an impatient tone. "I need to get in there."

"Um, sure dude. Sorry about that." I said, as Gwen left the bathroom first, followed by me.

"Whatever." Was all he said, before slamming the door behind him.

"We need to put the bandages back on." Gwen said, as she walked out to the living room.

I stood still with my arms up so it would be easy for Gwen to re-wrap the ace bandage. She got done just in time, because once she placed the Velcro strap onto the bandage to keep it in place, there was knock at the door.

"I'm going to go put a shirt on." I said. "Be right back."

"Okay." Gwen said, as she got up to answer the door.

I slowly walked down the hallway and into my room, where I opened my closet door to look for a shirt. Once I found a simple dark blue T-shirt, I pulled it from it's hanger. I put the shirt on and let out a groan of discomfort as I pulled it down, covering up the bandage.

"Oh hi, Ken." I heard Gwen say from the living room. "What brings you up here today?"

I slowly walked out of my room and down the hall, switching the Omnitrix into it's Camo setting as I went. I walked into the living room, to see Ken shutting the door behind him.

"Hey, Cuz. What's happening?" I asked him.

"Nothing, really. I just needed to come up and talk to Gwen." He said, before turning to look at her. "That night, you know which night I'm talking about, when I was abducted by that ghost alien or whatever, along with Grandpa Max, J.T. and Cash-"

"Yeah?" Gwen asked with an understandable amount of fear in her voice.

"Alien Guy was there. And also, a guy who looked a lot like Ben, just with silver hair and red eyes was there, as well as a girl in a skintight leather jumpsuit." He said. "Now, I seem to recall, when the alien ghost thing hit her on the head, Alien Guy screamed your name. _Your name_. May I ask you why you think that is?"

 _Oh, shit. He knows, doesn't he?_

Gwen looked at me for a second and I saw fear in her eyes. She eventually looked back at Ken.

"Ken, what are you trying to say?" she asked.

"Gwen, I think -, no. I _know_ that you were the woman in the leather jumpsuit that night." He said.

 _Oh yeah, he totally knows._

I couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on in Gwen's head right now. What would she say? If she admits to it, it's over! I'm next! Eventually, she spoke.

"Ken, I have no idea what you're talking about." She said.

"Yes, you do." He said. "You're the lady that was wearing the jumpsuit that night."

Just then, the bathtub faucet in the bathroom turned on, but Ken didn't pick up on it. Albedo must have been taking a shower.

"You were the woman in the leather-"

"Nope." Gwen replied.

"You were the woman-"

"Like, I totally wasn't." Gwen said.

"You were-"

"Dude! Why won't you trust her?!" I interrupted him this time. "I can vouch for her, man! She was here with me all night of the attack! We were watching Red Vs Blue on Netflix."

 _Netflix and Chill!_

I wanted so bad to facepalm when I heard the Omnitrix say that in my head. Where did it learn these things?

"Oh, really?" Ken asked. "So I guess you won't mind if I go search your room?"

Gwen looked at me out of despair as Ken moved towards the hallway. I moved in front of Ken.

"Who's house do you think you're in, Ken? You're not going in there!" I exclaimed.

"I need to see for myself." Ken said, as he tried to push me out of the way.

"No! You're not going in there! This is my house you're in!" I exclaimed, getting irritated. "And besides, at your house would you disrespect your sister's privacy? Are you crazy?"

"You're not stopping me from going in there, Ben." Ken said, as he tried one last time to push past me.

"Get out of my house, Ken." I said in an angry tone. "Just get the fuck out."

He looked at me with surprise, before he turned around and quickly walked to the door. I followed him and saw him open the door, before stepping out onto my doorstep. He turned around to look at us one more time before he left.

"You two are hiding something." He said. "And I'm going to figure out what it is."

And with that, he left, closing the door behind him. Gwen and I looked at each other with relief. I walked up to the door and locked it. I looked back at Gwen after I turned back around.

"Thank God that's over." I said, as she came over to gently hug me.

"I was so scared there for a minute, Ben." She whispered to me.

I gently ran my fingers through her hair in an effort to comfort her.

"Hey, it's okay." I said. "No one would expect you to not be scared. We're fine. Ken doesn't know anything."

I hadn't realized how much time had passed of us just standing there and holding each other, until I heard the bathroom door open. I heard Albedo shuffle out into the hallway and towards the living room.

"Jesus Christ you two, get a room." He said, as he stopped walking.

Gwen and I quickly pulled apart.

"Sorry, dude." I said with a sheepish look on my face.

"Yeah, whatever." He said, as he walked past Gwen and I, while he dried his hair.

Once he was gone, Gwen turned to look at me.

"Did you see that?" she asked.

"See what?" I asked in return.

"It was Albedo." She said. "He has a couple of whiskers growing on his chin."

"Hmm, it must have something to do with the virus." I said. "Try not to worry about it. Grandpa said he's working on the cure."

"Do you think it'll be ready in time?" Gwen asked.

I shrugged.

"We'll just have to wait and see." I said.

A small smile came onto her face.

"Well, on that note, what do you want to do today?" she asked.

"Well, I thought that maybe we could go out and-"

"Nope." Gwen said. "You're not leaving this house today. I don't care if you feel a lot better than you did yesterday. You need to stay home and rest, so your stomach wound can heal. And going out isn't going to help you rest and heal."

I let out a sigh.

"Fine." I said. "How about we just watch a movie in here? Is that okay?"

"That's fine. What movie did you have in mind?" she asked.

"I'll go through the case of movies that I have downstairs in the game room." I said.

"Okay." Gwen said. "And you should see if Albedo wants to watch a movie with us."

"Okay." I said, as I walked towards the basement stairs.

I slowly walked down the stairs and into the basement. I saw Albedo sitting on the couch, watching T.V.

"What's up?" he called to me as I entered the basement.

"Nothing." I said, as I walked over to the entertainment center. "Hey, Gwen and I are going to watch a movie upstairs. Do you want to watch a movie with us?"

"What movie?" Albedo asked. "And it better not be a romance movie!"

"Come on man! I don't like romance movies, regardless if Gwen and I are dating or not." I said.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Albedo replied.

I slowly sat down on my behind in front of the entertainment center, trying my best not to strain myself or rip the stitches in my abdomen. I opened up the bottom drawer, where I kept all of my movies and T.V. shows.

"So, what are we going to watch?" Albedo asked.

"I was thinking something with action and drama, maybe a little comedy." I said, as I grabbed the two movies that I thought Gwen would like.

I slowly stood back up.

"So, you gonna watch a movie with us?" I asked.

"Sure." He said. "But on one condition."

"What's the one condition?" I asked.

"If Gwen and you so much as kiss or hold hands during the movie, I'm going to punch you in the dick." He said in an angry tone.

"Jesus, fine!" I said. "But can I at least put my arm around her?"

"No." Albedo replied.

"But we're a couple! And we do couply things!" I complained.

"Fine! You can put your arm around her!" he angrily said. "But if you kiss her, hug her, or hold her hand, I'm out of here!"

"Okay, Jesus! Fine. Whatever you say." I said.

We walked back upstairs and into the living room, where Gwen was waiting on the couch. I moved in front of the T.V. and looked at Gwen, as Albedo sat down on the floor, putting his back against the couch.

"So, what're we watching?" Gwen asked.

"Okay, here's what I got. A super hero action movie with a little bit of drama: Spider-Man." I said, as I pulled out the case for Spider-Man from behind my back. "2003's Spider-Man, directed by Sam Raimi."

"It was made in 2002, not 2003." Albedo said.

"Shut it, Albedo!" I exclaimed with annoyance.

His eyebrows rose as she shrugged with a calm look on his face.

"Wasn't that movie panned by critics for having three villains and an overcrowded story?" Gwen asked.

"Okay, you're thinking about Spider-Man 3, the final movie in the Sam Raimi trilogy." I said. "Which, as much as Venom is my favorite Spider-Man villain, he was not a good villain in that movie."

"Okay, is there another movie?" she asked.

"Okay, here's Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds." I said, as I pulled out the case for Deadpool from behind my back. "A comedy with a touch of romance."

"Wasn't he terrible as Deadpool?" Gwen asked.

My face fell with disbelief after she said that.

"Again, you're thinking of a different movie. X-Men Origins: Wolverine." I said. "There's a special place in cinema history for movies like that."

"It wasn't a good movie?" Gwen asked.

I mouthed the word "no" to her.

"Well, I'm not sure I'm up for a Rom-Com." She said.

"So, Spider-Man?" I asked.

"Spider-Man." She said as she nodded.

I sat down in front of the entertainment center, turned on the DVD Player and put the DVD in.

 _One Hour And Fifty Five Minutes Later_

"Peter," Norman Osborn spoke, as blood dripped from his lips. "Don't tell Harry."

Norman fell and came to rest on his glider, as blood dripped onto the steel surface.

"What?!" Gwen exclaimed in disbelief. "He's dead?!"

I paused the movie and got up from the couch, walking over to the T.V. and stopping to stand in front of it. I turned to look at them.

"Oh, come on! You can't tell me that you didn't see that coming!" I exclaimed. "Gwen, I had already told you that the Green Goblin had done so many bad things to Peter Parker! Why are you surprised that he's dead?"

"All of those bad things are comic wise, Ben." Albedo remarked.

"Yeah, he didn't do many bad things in the movie." Gwen said.

"Just sit down and un-pause it, please." Albedo said.

I rolled my eyes.

"Fine." I said with annoyance.

I sat back down and pressed the play button on the DVD remote.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

Once the credits had started rolling, I muted the T.V. and got back up to stand in front of it, facing Gwen and Albedo.

"Well? What did you think?" I asked.

"Eh, it was pretty good." She said. "But did they really have to kill Norman Osborn?"

My face fell once again.

"Yes, they had to kill him!" I exclaimed. "Its symbolism, don't you see? Once Norman's pierced with his own glider and dies, Peter looks down realizes it: his greatest failure yet!"

"Do you hear yourself?" Albedo asked. "Peter's greatest failure is not stopping the burglar that killed Uncle Ben, not preventing Norman Osborn's death."

"Whatever! Look, I'm just trying to say that Peter realizes that he's failed!" I said. "I mean, when he looks down, how does that not say "failure"?"

"You're looking too far into it." Gwen said.

"I am not!" I said. "I mean, I guess it is my favorite thing about the movie. You know, Norman Osborn being pierced by his own glider and dying at the end?"

* Ben turns to look at the reader.

"Uh, spoiler alert for those of you who haven't seen it yet." I said.

"Ben?" Gwen said my name. "Who are you talking to?"

"No one." I said. "You know, I kind of feel bad for Harry at the end of the movie."

"Why?" Albedo asked.

"Why? Because he lost his dad!" I said. "I don't know why I feel sorry for him. Maybe the whole thing just makes me imagine what it would be like in Harry's shoes, like if my dad died like that, or something."

"Okay, whatever." Albedo said, as he rolled his eyes. "I just don't understand why they killed Norman Osborn. He was the best villain!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, he may have done a lot of bad things to Peter, but he is _not_ the best Spider-Man villain!" I said. "The best Spider-Man villain is Venom."

Albedo rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Ben!" he said. "You're just saying that because Venom is your favorite villain."

"Yeah, of course he is." Gwen said.

"Whatever. Besides, Venom has done more bad things to Spider-Man than the Green Goblin has ever done." I said.

"Oh, really?" Albedo asked. "The worst thing he did was kill Gwen Stacy!"

"This isn't a competition." I said.

"Yes, it is." Albedo said. "He created cybernetic duplicates of Peter's parents."

"That was Harry Osborn Green Goblin." I said. "And uh, Venom made Spider-Man stop wearing the black suit. And in possibly one of the best Spider-Man stories ever, he gassed Spider-Man and transported him to a vacant island for a fight to the death!"

"He turned Carlie Cooper into Monster." Albedo said.

"Venom became the Kingpin of New York, forcing Peter out of retirement." I said.

"That's from Spider-Man: Reign, a very poor attempt at duplicating The Dark Knight returns." Albedo said. "Not to mention in that story Peter killed Mary Jane with um, ah, his, you know, his radioactive man fluid."

"I can't believe you had to bring that up." I said, as I turned to look at Gwen. "Don't ask."

"I don't want to ask and I don't want to know." She said to me.

"Norman Osborn got Gwen Stacy p-"

"No!" I exclaimed with anger. "You don't get to mention that story!"

"Okay, sorry!" Albedo said. "Jesus."

"Are you two done?" Gwen asked.

We both looked at her and nodded.

"Good." She said. "It was getting annoying listening to you two."

"It's getting towards noon." I said, as I looked at them. "What are we doing for lunch?"

Gwen shrugged.

"I don't know." She said. "We'll figure something out."

 _Several Hours Later_

It was nearing about six thirty in the evening. Nothing eventful had happened today. After we ate lunch, Albedo went downstairs to game for a while. While he did that, Gwen and I took a nap on the living room couch.

The thing with having a wound in my stomach, Gwen insisted that she gently lay on my chest, while resting her head next to mine. I didn't really get why she needed to do that, whereas my stomach wound was pretty much healed. But she insisted.

Once we woke up at about five thirty, we just turned on the T.V. and flipped through the channels for about an hour straight. We were about to give up and just go ask Albedo what he wanted to do, when there was a knock at the door.

"That must be Ken coming to try to tell me that I'm Lucky Girl again." Gwen said, as she got up from the couch. "I'll get it."

She walked over to the door, unlocked it and opened it. As she opened it, the person on the other side immediately tried to let themselves in. Gwen tried to keep them from getting in, as she turned to look at me with terror.

"Run, Ben!" she exclaimed.

It took me a second to get what was going on, but eventually it clicked with me. It was the lady that stabbed me from yesterday! She was at the door!

"Albedo!" I exclaimed, as I ran for the basement stairs.

I ran to the back door as Albedo came rushing up the stairs.

"What is it?!" he asked. "What's happening?!"

"That lady who tried to kill me last night is back!" I exclaimed.

"The same lady who stabbed you?" he asked.

"Yes!" I said.

"Oh my God, let's get out of here!" he exclaimed.

I nodded in agreement and we both walked to the back door, which was just in front of the basement stairs. I opened the door and was about to exit through the screen door, when I stopped and shut the door entirely.

"What? What's wrong?" Albedo asked.

"What am I thinking?" I asked, as I turned to face him. "I can't go out this way, not at least in my street clothes! I have to get into my costume! If I have to fight her again, I can't risk exposing myself to the public!"

"Good idea!" Albedo said, as I ran back towards the living room.

I ran back through the living room, much to Gwen's worry.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed, as she tried to keep the assailant from getting into the house.

I didn't have time to answer as I moved into our room. I ripped open the grocery bags that Grandpa had put the parts of my costume in and quickly took off my clothes. I kept the blue jeans from yesterday on, though.

A minute and a half later, I had my costume on. My black shirt that had a hole in it, as well as my mask that had a completely shattered lens; I had it all on again. I left our room and crept over to my room to sneak out through the window, so I didn't draw attention to myself attempting to leave through the back or front door.

Once I was outside, I tried to sneak away without getting spotted by my assailant, but she must have had the ears of a cat, because she was on to me before I could even leave my yard. Once she had spotted me, I urged myself to run as fast as I could.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

Ten minutes of her chasing me later and now we were back in Downtown Bellwood. We were on the rooftops now and I thought that I had lost her. But all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she leapt over the cover that I was hiding behind.

I was panting and sweating a lot, where my assailant hadn't even broken a sweat! She smiled a sinister grin as she looked at me.

"You're fast!" she said, as she walked closer to me. "But not fast enough."

I backed up away from her, but I didn't go long before backing up into the object I was taking cover behind.

"How did you know that I hadn't bled out last night?" I asked.

"My employer confirmed that you were still alive. And he punished me severely." She said. "Not that you care."

"Not that I care?!" I said, as I stood up straighter. "You don't have to work for your boss or take his abuse! Who is your employer anyway?"

She pulled out one of her Sais and threw it at me, but I moved out of the way, causing the Sai to embed itself into the wall behind me.

"His name is Ulysses Enoch." She said. "Speaking of which, he wanted me to deliver a message to you before you die."

"What's the message?" I asked.

Without a word, she pulled out a small pad of some kind from her utility belt. She faced the pad towards my face so I could see it and the pad lit up, revealing a person sitting in a chair, hidden in a shadowy corner.

"Your destruction is the will of my uncle." The man said. "And I am his instrument."

If this man was Ulysses Enoch as my assailant named her employer, than he didn't have the same voice as the Enoch I knew. Then again, he could be using a voice modifier, but the voice didn't sound familiar nonetheless.

The light died out on the pad and she took it back, clipping it back onto her utility belt. She took a breath and without warning, lunged towards me as she pulled out her other Sai, ready to stab me.

I leapt out of the way, much to my stomach's displeasure. She pulled her other Sai out of the wall, turned around, and charged me. I couldn't fight her in my human form this time. I had to use the Omnitrix. So, I activated it and moved the ring clockwise, as I dodged her attacks. I picked my favorite alien Diamondhead.

Once I transformed, I began to attack her. I still felt a bit of a tingle in my gut, but I was actually able to move around this time. Although my attack didn't last very long. I didn't even get to hit her once. I went to tried to hit her leg, but she moved out of the way much faster than I had anticipated and causing me to fall to the floor of the rooftop.

She put her foot on my back and forced me down. I don't know how, but she grabbed my head and pulled me up, before she began tapping the Omnitrix's hourglass symbol on Diamondhead's pectoral muscle. I transformed back into my human form and somehow managed to push her off of my back, which sent pain coursing through my stomach.

 _Was I just slow or was she really that quick? And how did she even do that?!_

I turned to face her once I stood up and got into a fighting stance. She slowly approached me, before she jumped and spun through the air, as she held her arms out, trying to hit me with her Twin Sais. She eventually ceased her attack and may have tried a different attack, but she never got the chance to. Out of nowhere, Gwen landed in between us, fully clad in her Lucky Girl costume.

"Shall we dance?" Gwen asked, as she got into a fighting stance herself.

"We have to stop meeting like this!" my assailant exclaimed, as she began to combat Gwen.

As the two began to fight, Albedo landed next to me. I turned to look at him and he turned to look at me.

"Why'd you run off again?" Albedo asked. "Gwen is peeved about you running off and endangering yourself."

"I'm not doing to endanger myself. I'm doing it to keep you guys out of danger." I said. "She's after me, not you guys. You guys have no part in this."

"How very noble of you. Remind to-" he was speaking when he stopped. " _Ooooh_ , wow. Ow!"

"Are you okay, man?!" I asked.

He didn't speak for a few seconds, but when he did, he sounded better. So whatever was going with him must have passed.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said. "I'm okay."

I looked up.

"This can't last much longer." I said. "The sun's going down. We have to get out of here."

"Why? Do you have plans?" Albedo asked.

"No, I'm just saying I'm tired." I said. "I want to get home and go to sleep."

"We're all tired, Ben." Albedo said. "Be a man and suck it up."

Just then, my assailant and Gwen broke up from their fight. Albedo and I both looked up at them as they began talking.

"You're good in combat, I'll admit that." My assailant said. "But even if you can hold your own in combat, I have something that you don't."

"And what's that?" Gwen asked.

My assailant put her Twin Sais back behind her back and just stood still. All of a sudden, she opened her eyes, revealing them to be hot pink instead of dark blue. And it wasn't just the iris that was hot pink. The entirety of both her eyes was hot pink. The next thing I noticed was that her combat armor was, disintegrating, I guess?

A few more seconds later and something very horrifying and truly amazing happened. She stopped standing with her feet together; she moved her legs a little, so that her feet were spaced apart by a couple feet or so.

Then she thrust her arms backwards, behind her, letting out a yell of fury, as the combat armor exploded from her body. Or at least that's what I'd describe it as. And now I saw:

 _The average male would think that I'm going to say that I saw her naked body. No. Get your head out of the gutter. Although, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I wish it was her naked body, because it would be a lot less threatening._

My assailant no longer looked human. She was humanoid still, but you wouldn't be able to tell that she was human. Her eyes still glowed hot pink. Her body's "skin" was now a dark purple and her hair was now really long, going down to well below her waist. And her hair was no longer blonde. It was a very bright, light pink now.

Albedo and I both stared at my assailant's new form in amazement, horror and surprise, all at the same time.

"Um, I think we might be in trouble." I said.

"You think?!" Albedo exclaimed, as he turned around. "Retreat! Women and children last!"

We all turned and ran away from my assailant. I didn't get very far though. My assailant's hair snaked and stretched over to me, and wrapped around my ankle, preventing me from getting anywhere. I fell down on my face as the strands of hair dragged me backwards, as my assailant let out a sort of demonic laugh.

"Lucky Girl!" I exclaimed with distress.

Lucky Girl turned around, saw what was happening and her eyes went wide with worry. She ran over to my assailant, charging into her. It seemed to have no effect on my assailant, but her strands of hair did let go of me.

Gwen ran back to me and grabbed my hand, forcing me up. We ran away from my assailant and surprisingly, she didn't try to stop us.

We ran away and off onto another rooftop. We ran for several minutes and eventually came to a warehouse with a skylight. Albedo was standing on the edge of the skylight, seemingly lot wanting to go any further. Unfortunately, Gwen and I ran into him, pushing all of us onto the skylight, breaking through the glass.

We all fell down into the warehouse floor. Gwen and I landed on top of a shelf, where workers kept crates stored on.

"Wow, you really are a "Lucky Girl"!" I said to Gwen, once I recovered from the fall.

"Shut up." She said, as we slowly and carefully dropped down to the floor below, where Albedo had landed.

We stood silently, just listening for any footsteps. I was hoping that we had lost her. That's when I heard Albedo letting out moans of pain.

"Albedo?" I asked with worry.

He didn't respond. That's when I looked up and saw it.

"Oh, shit." I said.

"Oh shit, what?" Gwen asked.

"Oh shit, that!" I said, as I pointed.

We both looked through the shattered skylight, up into the night sky. A cloud moved past the moon, revealing a full moon. I looked back at Albedo, to see him turning to face us. From the light of the moon, I saw that his eyes were slowly changing from red to full black. He reached up and began to pull on the neck of his shirt, as if he needed air.

His skin began to turn a paler shade of gray. His muscular structure began to grow, along with several dark gray hairs growing all over his body. As he grew, his feet ripped out of his shoes, along with the bottom of his pants ripping as well. I also noticed that his feet were taking the shape of the hind paws of a wolf. In place of his toes, were now pointy claws.

His shirt was the next thing to go, along with his jacket. They were completely ripped to shreds. He continued to grow, almost getting as big as The Incredible Hulk, but maybe a more downsized Hulk? His hands, interestingly enough, didn't take the shape of a wolf's front paws.

His hands remained human, just very hairy, with pointy nails. And now for his face: He had pointy ears, somewhat of a snout and black, soulless eyes. I was now looking at my brother, who was a hulking man-wolf.

"Albedo?" Gwen asked with worry.

I quickly grabbed Gwen from the back and put my hand over her mouth, causing her to gasp with shock and fear.

"Don't say anything." I whispered into her ear.

Man-Wolf Albedo began to look around, before looking at the full moon above. Instead of perching on all fours as I expected he would, he leaned his chest back and put his arms up, before letting out an earsplitting howl.

 _Oh, this isn't good. Totally not good._

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the chapter! What did you guys think?

* About the Ben's fourth wall break, what did you think? This will probably be the only fourth wall break that I ever do. Unless you guys enjoyed it. Which, if you did, I may throw in another fourth wall break sooner or later. Let me know your thoughts in a review!

* What did you think of Sunny's Pure Anodite form? I just wanted to give a nod to Anodites in this story, as I never really have referenced them as of yet. I hope you guys liked it! Also, what do you guys make of the Ken situation? That he knows that his sister is Lucky Girl, but she denies it?

* There were more Spider-Man references in this chapter, I hope you enjoyed. And finally, Albedo's final transformation into a Man-Wolf. What did you guys think? How do you think he'll revert back to human form?

* There are two chapters left in this story arc and I will admit that the final part may be shorter than what you guys are used to. That's going to do it for me. Again, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic weekend and bye!

Next Chapter: Ben's Assailant begins to learn her place in the world. With her help, Albedo tames the Man-Wolf.


	71. Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part 4

Chapter 70: Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part Four

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Seventy!

* So this chapter begins wrapping up this arc. I hope you guys enjoy!

 _Ben_

 _Downtown Bellwood_

Albedo. My brother turned Man-Wolf. Oops, I forgot. Make that a less-bigger version of a Hulk-sized Man-Wolf. What could go wrong? After he was done letting out an earsplitting howl at the moon, he turned around to face Lucky Girl and I. I stayed still and wrapped my other arm around Lucky Girl's waist, trying to keep her from moving, while I kept my hand over her mouth, trying to keep her quiet.

Man-Wolf Albedo's soulless black eyes were illuminated by the moonlight. It almost seemed like he was staring into our souls. He opened his mouth and bared the fangs that he now had. He wasn't making any suggestions of attacking us, so could he not see us?

He stepped closer to us and I swear to God, Lucky Girl let out a whimper of fright. Man-Wolf Albedo leaned forward and began sniffing the air. He may have attacked or God knows what he could have done. But before he could do anything, a sound came from the rooftops above. He whipped his head around to look through the shattered skylight and to the night sky above.

He let out a bit of a snarl and I noticed the pointy claws that he had grew longer. He turned around leapt up to one of the shelves. His claws dug into the boxes and the metal of the shelf, before he took one hand off of the surface and turned to look at the skylight. He leapt once more, grabbing onto the edge of the shattered skylight and pulling himself up and onto the roof.

After that, he moved forward with amazing speed and disappeared from view. He was gone now. I just stood there in silence, shocked and what had just happened. The cure no longer mattered. Albedo had gone full werewolf. Was there any going back?

Lucky Girl pulled away from my grip and I didn't even try to keep my hold on her.

"Ben?" she asked with worry.

"I can't believe it. He turned." I said, as I felt like crying. "It doesn't matter anymore if Grandpa finished the cure. Albedo's gone. He's not coming back."

Lucky Girl looked at me with a disapproving gaze.

"Ben, whether he's gone or not, we have to get out of here and get back home." She said. "I think that we may have lost her now. Let's go."

She grappled her way up and out of the warehouse through the skylight. I just stood there in silence still, for what seemed like an hour.

"Ben?" Lucky Girl quietly called down to me. "Are you coming?"

"What?" I asked, as I looked up through the skylight at her.

She waved her hand at me, gesturing me towards her.

"Oh, right." I said, as I pointed my fist up at the shattered skylight and grappled out of the warehouse myself.

Once I was up on the rooftop once again, we began to run back in the direction of the suburbs, which was good twenty minutes of running away. There was no sign of Man-Wolf Albedo, I didn't see him anywhere.

But nevertheless, Lucky Girl had no patience for me just standing around, so I had to run with her. We both alternated between running on the rooftops and jumping across rooftops. We ran for several minutes, only stopping when we heard the sounds of a struggle. We came to a stop and hid behind a low wall, as we witnessed Man-Wolf Albedo and my Assailant engaging in combat.

And speaking of my assailant, she wasn't in that dark purple skinned with bright pink hair any more. She was back in her human form, with her combat armor intact, as well as having blonde hair and dark blue eyes again.

 _What the fuck was that even about? I thought she did that to engage in combat with Gwen and literally mop the floor with her! Or, did she just do it to scare us? Possibly showing off?_

Even though Man-Wolf Albedo was larger and undoubtedly stronger than my Assailant, she was much more graceful than he was and as a result was able to dodge nearly all of his attacks. The battle ensued for several minutes.

Eventually, my Assailant gained the upper hand and was able to stab Man-Wolf Albedo in the ribs with one of her Sais.

"No!" I exclaimed with distress.

Man-Wolf Albedo let out an angry roar, as he picked her up out of rage. My assailant saw me again and immediately began struggling, trying to get free from Man-Wolf Albedo's grip, obviously wanting to get back at me.

"Why did you have to scream?!" Lucky Girl said in anger as she glared at me. "Now she knows exactly where you're at!"

"I don't care!" I exclaimed. "She just stabbed my brother!"

"Come on, we have to run!" she exclaimed, as she grabbed my hand.

We started running, going through our routine of alternatively jumping from rooftop to rooftop and running. I looked behind me once, to see my assailant ripping her Sai from Man-Wolf Albedo's skin. He roared once more in rage, bleeding for a few seconds, before it healed completely.

 _Why do all of the giants I come across have an uncanny healing ability?_

My assailant kicked out of Man-Wolf Albedo's grip and began running after this.

"Run faster!" I told Lucky Girl, as I urged myself to pick up the pace.

She ran faster with me, as we came to a gap in between the two buildings. We jumped the gap with relative ease and continued running. We ran for several more minutes, before we came to another gap.

As I ran from my Assailant, I jumped down to another adjacent rooftop. Lucky Girl landed next to me. We both took cover behind two different brick pillars, both of us panting and sweating from the chase that we'd been on.

"Where is she?!" I asked in a frantic tone. "Where did you last see her?!"

"I don't know!" she whispered to me. "She's fast, I'll give her that! I think she was a couple rooftops away the last time I saw her."

I grunted in pain, as I tried to continue standing.

"Are you alright?!" Gwen asked with worry. "Are you're wounds giving you too much trouble?! We can stop if you need to!"

I grunted once more, as I straightened back up.

"No." I said. "We have to keep going. We can't stop here. She'll catch up to us soon."

"What about Albedo?" she asked. "Have you seen him?"

I shook my head, disregarding her question. As much as I hated to, I had to admit the truth.

"Forget about Albedo, Lucky Girl." I said. "Albedo's gone. And he's never coming back."

Lucky Girl looked at the ground. Just then, we both picked up on how silent it was. We didn't hear the pitter-patter of footsteps running across the rooftops.

"Do you think that we can make a run for it?" I asked, as I leaned towards her a little.

Before she could even answer my question, out of nowhere, a blade flew past my head and tore through my jacket and shirt sleeves, cutting into my arm. I let out a scream of pain, as I ran forward. Lucky Girl sprang from the pillar that she was taking cover from, and shielded me from the Assailant.

"Run, Ben! Run!" she exclaimed.

"Get out of the way." My assailant said, in an emotionless voice. "I don't want to hurt you, I only need Tennyson."

"Well, if you want to get to him, you'll have to go through me!" Gwen exclaimed, as I ran. "Because I-"

Gwen was interrupted by the sound of what I could only describe as a "war cry", and the sound of a strike landing. I didn't dare turn around. I kept running as fast as I could. I jumped across to the next rooftop and continued running, as I heard the Assailant's footsteps quickly following me.

I kept running for what seemed like forever. I had to get away from the assailant. Unfortunately, because of my previous wounds, I was slow and the assailant quickly caught up with me. I felt her grab me from behind, she gripped my shoulder hard and stabbed me in the opposite shoulders with one of her Twin Sais.

I gasped in pain, as she quickly pulled the blade out and pushed me down onto the floor of the roof.

I began to crawl away from my assailant, as the wound in my shoulder created a trail of blood behind me. I heard her slowly following me as I crawled. I felt her grab my jacket and flip me over.

I stared up at my assailant and she looked back at me with hatred in her eyes. She reached for my mask and gripped it, as aggressively pulled it off.

"I want to look into my victim's eyes as he dies." She said in a monotone, emotionless voice.

She pulled a dagger from her utility belt, but before she could use it on me, I summed up the strength to kick her in the jaw, which sent her to the ground.

"God damn it!" she exclaimed. "Son of a bitch!"

I flipped myself back over and began to grunt in pain, as I made another attempt to crawl away. My assailant was back up on her feet in no time. She put her foot down onto my back, preventing me from getting anywhere else. She then sat down on top of me, with her knee pressing into my back.

She grabbed my hair and pulled my head upwards. I grunted in pain, as she put her dagger up against my throat. I gasped in pain, as I felt the blade's edge dig into the flesh of my neck.

 _This was it. This was how it was going to end. I'll never see how the Man-Wolf Albedo situation ends. Gwen and I never did more than sleep together. I'll never get to ask her to marry me. Hell, I'll never find out what our kids will look like. I guess this is goodbye._

I began to feel blood running down my neck. I closed my eyes and waited for it. But all of a sudden, I heard a familiar roar of fury. My Assailant let out a yell of pain, as I felt her being flung off of me.

I slowly flipped myself over, to see Man-Wolf Albedo once again engaging in combat with my Assailant. After a minute or two of fighting, he stopped and began stalking closer to her. I noticed that my Assailant was holding her side, as if she were pain.

I was in genuine shock. I had never seen her act like she had been hurt. Eventually, she turned and ran away, Man-Wolf Albedo on her tail not even a second later. Just then Lucky Girl ran up to me, finally returning after being struck by my Assailant. Once she reached me, she got on one knee and took my hand.

"Ben, I'm here!" she said. "Everything's going to be okay!"

I was feeling really cold now.

"Gwen-"

"We have to get you to Grandpa!" she said. "He can patch you up again!"

I disregarded what she said. To be truthful, I don't even know what she said. I didn't even know what was happening.

"Gwen I-" I stopped myself in mid sentence for some reason.

"Stop it!" she said. "Everything's going to be fine! I promise!"

"Gwen-" I stopped myself one last time before I finished the phrase.

I took a deep breath before I continued.

"Gwen, I love you." I said.

And then, against my will, my eyes closed.

 _Gwen_

When Ben closed his eyes and his body went cold, I started freaking out. I shook his body, as tears flowed down my cheeks.

"No! No!" I exclaimed as I cried. "Come back! Ben, come back to me, please! I can't live without you!"

As I rested my head on his good shoulder and continued crying, I hadn't even realized that my Mana abilities had activated. The only thing I felt was warmth in my left hand, nothing else.

 _Ben_

 _Silence. Nothing else. Waiting. But for what? What am I waiting for? I'm dead now, aren't I? Why haven't I gone to heaven? Or Hell yet? Silence. Nothing else. When all of a sudden…_

 _Boom. Boom. Boom._

 _The sounds start off slow and quiet, but gradually get faster and louder._

 _Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom._

My eyes popped open and I sat up breathing in and out at what seemed one hundred miles an hour, pushing Lucky Girl off of me. There was sweat beading up on my forehead, as I placed my hands on the rooftop floor below me.

 _What just happened? I thought I just died? Did I just get resurrected?_

"Ben?" Lucky Girl asked, as she sniffled, tears running down her cheeks. "Is that you?"

"It's me." I said. "I'm okay, Lucky Girl. I'm fine."

That was the truth. I had just been stabbed in the shoulder and nearly had gotten my throat slit, and yet here I was, feeling better than ever and breathing just fine. And speaking of my shoulder, it felt fine. And the tingly feeling in my stomach was gone, too!

"Ben!" Lucky Girl said my name with pure joy, as her lips crashed against mine.

We shared a passionate kiss for what seemed like hours. She eventually pulled away and rested her forehead on mine.

"Oh, Ben. I thought I had lost you." She whispered, as she sniffled once more.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and puller her into hug, so that our bodies touched.

"No, Gwen. I'm right here and I'm fine." I said. "No one's taking me away from you anytime soon. And that's promise."

 _The Assailant_

I was still running from the Beast. I knew that it was just Albedo, who had finally mutated into his final Werewolf form. My employers had told me everything that they had done to the trio. So, seeing him in his Werewolf form surprised me, but it shouldn't have. I should have expected it.

I was sick of running from him. That's when an idea popped into my head. Once he forced me to jump to the next rooftop, I'd try it. He swiped at me as I leapt to the next rooftop and that was it.

Once I landed and he landed behind me, I ran forward a little bit and spun around.

"Stop!" I said in a stern tone, as I pointed my index finger at him.

Surprisingly, it had an effect on him. He came to a complete stop in front of me and just stood there. I stared at him with an intimidating gaze. He brought his foot off of the rooftop floor and made an attempt to step towards me.

"No!" I exclaimed in a stern tone, pointing my index finger at him once more.

It surprised me when he let out a whimper. Like a sad-ashamed whimper that dogs would make. He made another attempt to step forward.

"Ah-ah-ah!" I exclaimed, wagging my finger at him. "No! Stop it!"

He didn't attempt to step forward anymore after that. Instead, he plopped down on the rooftop floor in front of me. And what I saw surprised me. His soulless black eyes; they had a bit of a glaze over them, as if he was going to cry.

 _Did I actually hurt him? Did I hurt his feelings? Does that thing even have feelings?_

I don't know why, but I actually felt bad about yelling at him. I put my Twin Sais back into the straps on my back and stepped up to him with caution. He didn't get up, he didn't move, nor did he look up at me. He didn't do a thing.

"Hey." I said in a cautious tone, as I stepped closer still.

He snapped his head up to look at me and I staggered backwards, falling on my behind out of fear. Instead of getting up to attack or approach me, he simply made a hiccupy noise, as if he were amused at my sudden fear.

I got back up and he remained where he was. I slowly walked closer and he remained where he was, as if he were content. As if he was happy now. I moved closer until I was close enough to touch him. I had no idea what I was even doing at this point. What I was doing now went against everything that I was taught. It went against my orders.

I cautiously and gently put my hand on his cheek, and I felt him breathing on my forearm. He lifted his hand and moved it towards me, but I didn't recoil. For an odd reason, I trusted the Beast.

He gently ran a finger through my blonde hair, flicking a few of its strands every few seconds or so. I let out a nervous chuckle as I continued to rub his cheek and as he continued to run his finger through my hair.

"You're actually friendly." I whispered to him.

The next thing he did freaked me out. His other hand lifted up and he put it around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Now I was resting my head on the Beast's giant chest, my heart beating a million miles an hour.

I wasn't scared. I wasn't worried. I had no idea why my heart was beating so fast, but I knew that I wasn't afraid of the Beast. I don't know why, but I trusted him. I had no earthly idea why I did what I did next, but it didn't matter. I stood up on my tiptoes while I was still on his thigh, so I could see his face.

I pressed my lips against the tip of his snout and kissed him to the best of my ability. The Beast's hands came to rest on my sides, but I didn't seem to care. I closed my eyes and continued to kiss his snout.

 _Ben_

 _A Couple Minutes Earlier_

Lucky Girl and I watched what was unfolding from a few rooftops away, from the cover of a low wall.

"Stop!" my Assailant said in a stern tone, as she pointed at Man-Wolf Albedo.

It surprised Lucky Girl and I both when Man-Wolf Albedo came to a stop. Eventually he tried to move again, but she yelled at him once again, stopping him. He attempted to move one more time, to which he got the same response from her, before he sat down on the floor of the roof.

After that, my Assailant spoke in too low of a tone for us to understand anything. We waited and waited, until something surprising happened. Man-Wolf Albedo pulled her close to him and she kissed him on the snout!

What happened next was shocking. Gradually, Man-Wolf Albedo shrunk down in size. As he got too small to hold her like he was, Albedo eventually got on his knees, as he continued to shrink. I couldn't tell or not if my Assailant noticed this.

She remained standing up, as they continued making out. Eventually, Albedo was back in his human form, wearing nothing but his tattered pants, torn to shreds from the shins down.

 _The Assailant_

 _A Few Minutes Later_

It seemed like Albedo was in a daze. He sat on the rooftop floor cross-legged, just staring at the floor. Eventually he looked up at me.

"Wha-?" he asked, as he got up to face me. "What happened?"

I didn't answer, I just stared at him.

"Wait. I remember that I was in a warehouse with Ben and Gwen, and I, and I-" he stopped speaking, before he looked up at me. "I transformed into a werewolf, didn't I?"

I nodded.

"Then how am I human again?" he asked. "If I transformed, how am I human now?"

"I don't know." I said, as I shrugged. "I guess I calmed you down."

"Calmed me down how?" he asked.

I shrugged once more. I was having conflicted thoughts. I still had a mission. Benjamin Kirby Tennyson still had to die. But I was questioning whether or not I wanted to do it anymore.

"Wait, you were trying to kill Ben!" he said. "I'll fight you! I won't let you kill him!"

"I have no intention of fighting you." I said. "But I'm sorry. I have to kill Benjamin Kirby Tennyson."

"No, you don't!" he said. "Just forget everything that the Forever Knights told you to do! You have free will!"

"I can't just forget my orders!" I said. "I have to kill Benjamin Kirby Tennyson! It's my primary objective!"

"But you really don't have to do it!" he said. "Just drop your flags! Don't do their bidding anymore!"

I was astonished by his persistence.

"B-But they'll come for me if I desert them!" I said.

"And you think that we won't help you?!" he said. "I don't think you're dangerous. I just think that you're in the wrong place. I think you're being controlled. You're just a puppet to them!"

I looked up at him with shock. I was even more astonished that he was actually insisting that I drop my flags. It's like he wanted to help me!

"Just drop your flags." He said, as he approached me, gently putting his hands on my shoulders.

I didn't try to push him away. I could have sworn that I trusted him like I trusted the Beast version of him.

"Just stop attempting to kill Ben, okay? Stop working for those assholes and pursue your own path!" he said. "We'll help you, I promise! You have nothing to worry about and I promise that you won't be alone. Just think about it, please?"

 _Ben_

Lucky Girl looked at me. And I looked at her. We were both in shock after what we had just seen.

"Albedo. He's human again." Lucky Girl said.

I shook my head.

"He may be human again. But who says that he's Albedo again?" I asked her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Who's to say that she just tamed him?" I asked. "What if Albedo is gone indefinitely? What if he does nothing but serve her for the rest of their lives? You know, protect her and stuff?"

Lucky Girl shot me a disapproving glance. Before she got to say anything, my Assailant jumped over to me out of nowhere, landing in front of me, Albedo right behind her. His eyes were red again, but that could mean anything. Lucky Girl got up and stood in front of me, shielding me once more.

"Run, Ben!" she exclaimed.

I let out a sigh.

"No, Lucky Girl." I said, as I gently pushed her out of the way.

I fell onto my knees in front of my Assailant and walked on my knees closer to her.

"I'm done! I'm sick of running from you and getting stabbed by you!" I exclaimed, as I looked up at her.

Her dark blue eyes emotionlessly stared back down at me. I took her hands in mine, as a plea to her.

"Take me! Just take me to the Forever Knights!" I said. "I give up!"

She yanked her hands away.

"I'm not taking you anywhere." She said in a low voice.

"Then please don't kill me!" I exclaimed, as tears flowed down my cheeks. "Please don't kill me! I'll do anything if you let me live!"

She said nothing. I looked back down at the rooftop floor, sniffling as I did.

"Please. Just please." I said.

"You coward." She said.

I didn't say anything, nor did I look up at her.

"I'm not going to kill you." She said at last.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter! What did you guys think? So, as you guys can now tell from the repeated section in the middle of this chapter, the beginning of the story arc was actually the end of the story arc! Was it neat? Good? Do you guys see that coming?

* If you guys are questioning it, I will confirm it. Ben _did die_ in this chapter. Don't mistake that. _He died, as in his heart stopped!_ He bled out from the wounds that Sunny gave him. And how he came back is up to the reader's interpretation. You can either think that Gwen unknowingly activated a secret Mana ability, the Omnitrix had something to do with it, or you can come up with your own theory! While I'm on the topic, was the moment that Ben and Gwen had when he came back well written?

* What did you think of the scene where Sunny "tames" Man-Wolf Albedo? It's really the beginning of their romance, which will come later. Did you like how Albedo talked Sunny into dropping her loyalties to the Forever Knights?

* So, the next chapter will essentially wrap up this arc. And it will be a short chapter. Once this arc is over, the final story arc, as well as the final chapters of Volume One will come. And you guys better be ready. Something big is coming at the end of the Volume, and I can guarantee that you guys won't see it coming!

* So, I'm going to start doing a new thing at the end of each chapter. Well, this may or may not be the only time I do this. I'm going to respond to your guys' reviews! It's mainly for guest reviewers, so I can get back to them. And this wasn't my idea. Gojaimas uses this in his Ben 10 story, called "I Wanted What I Saw That Day". Speaking of which, you should totally check out his story if you haven't already! I can almost guarantee that you will not regret it.

 _ **Review Responses**_

 _jasongd: And another great chapter congrats BWEN Forever_

Yes, yes, yes. I'm glad that you've been enjoying the story. Always a pleasure, jasongd!

 _InterCosmicBooks: Halo Fall of Reach reference_

I am a huge fan of Halo, as well as the Rooster Teeth Machinima: Red Vs Blue, so I do try to weave in references to the two respective franchises when I can. And as pathetic as it may sound, I may have forgotten where I put in said reference. Could you please help me out? Sorry about that, but thanks for the review!

 _Read (Guest): Read:You could of done the best pun by making them have sex on chapter 69_

Yes, I was very well aware of that. But I am not the lemon-writing type. I really need to take that portion of the story's description out… I'm not saying that there will _never_ be a lemon chapter or scene in this story, or in any of the following Volumes, I'm just not good at writing them. You guys will get one or two lemon chapters or scenes from me if you're lucky. And who said it would be of Ben and Gwen…?

 _thestutz: I love chapter 69 it was great. Keep up the great work. When you get done with this story I would like to see a story about Ben and Gwen from the first real life Ben 10 movie. Lee Majors played Grandpa Max._

First off, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for the compliment! Now onto your request. I believe you are referring to the movie: Ben 10: Race Against Time. Although I have seen the movie, but it's been a long, long time since I have seen it, so you may be asking the wrong person. But I'm sure you could ask around the Bwen community and find someone else who would be happy to do it for you. Plus the fact that I have three other stories that I'm working on, so I probably wouldn't have to time to do this for you. I'm sorry.

 _Sishen123 (Guest): Sishen123:hey I love your story and I don't know but I have been imagining albedo sounding like inner hollow ichigo but any way I'd love to brainstorm with you some time by the way I read your quote about the person who gave you shit about your use of christ and all that bs and honestly I was proud of you for sticking by your work no mater what but I hope we could be friends so the names justin_

Thanks, I'm glad you like my story. Albedo sounding like an "inner hollow ichigo"? Hmm, I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by that. But yeah, I'm glad that you and I are on the same page about religious crap. I'm not religious myself. I have two grandparents that are Catholic and I've gone to church with them before, trying to get the flow of the religion and understand it, but I just can't do it. I do think it's an important thing to keep an open mind, though. I respect people who are religious. It's just when they judge every little thing that you do that would go against their religion that makes me want to tear my hair out. Nice meeting you Justin! I'm sure we could eventually collaborate one day, but as you read above, I am busy with other stories. That doesn't mean that I'm not interested though!

* Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that. If you did, then it'll stay. And even if you didn't, I may do one or two more of these. Please, please, please let me know what you think! I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic rest of your weekend and bye.

Next Chapter: The Assailant joins Ben's team, causing tension between her and Ben. The Assailant is finally given a name.


	72. Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part 5

Chapter 71: Always Sunny In Bellwood: Part 5

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Seventy One!

* This is the final part of the Always Sunny In Bellwood arc, after which the final arc of Volume One will begin. Like I said last chapter, it'll be big! Anyway, in this chapter Sunny will actually be given her name instead of being called "The Assailant". That's all I will say.

* The chapter begins!

 _Ben_

 _I'm not going to kill you._

The words rang in my head. I looked up at my Assailant.

"What?" I asked in shock.

"I'm not going to kill you." She repeated herself.

I looked at her with an astonishing gaze.

"You're not going to kill me?" I asked. "But why?"

"Why? Why?! You have to ask me why?!" she yelled at me with anger. "I'm sparing your life! Why can't you just say thank you?!"

I fell backwards out of fear and Albedo walked up from behind my Assailant and got in front of her, shielding me from her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy now!" Albedo said, as he put his hands on her shoulders. "You need to calm down. All you've tried to do is kill him. He doesn't understand why you've had a change of heart."

Albedo eventually moved out of the way after he was done talking and my Assailant looked at me. There was still a look in her eyes. I couldn't say that it was hate this time. Maybe it was worry or uncertainty. She eventually spoke.

"Your friend has convinced me to drop my flags, to stop working for Ulysses Enoch and the Forever Knights." She said. "I've abandoned my mission of trying to kill you. I'm done. He taught me that I have free will and the right to my own path."

"You know, coming from Albedo, that's actually good advice." I said, as I turned to look at him. "Good job, dude."

"Thanks." He said.

"How did he revert back to human?" I asked her. "What did you do to him?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know what happened." She said. "I'm sorry that I can't fill in the gaps."

"Well, maybe I can." Albedo said, as he stepped forward to look at me. "I vaguely remember feeling calm, at peace or content when I was around her in my Man-Wolf form. That's the only thing I can remember from my time as the Man-Wolf. After that, I remember waking up and what came before my transformation."

"Uh-huh." I said.

 _Sure. Lucky Girl and I both saw what had happened and we were pretty sure that my Assailant kissing Albedo had something to do with it. But I didn't want to say anything about it._

My Assailant looked at me once more, before speaking again.

"Let's get something straight, Tennyson. Just because you and I are on neutral terms, that means nothing." She said to me, as she looked at me with a hateful look. "But you and I are _not_ friends. Do you understand me? We will _never_ be friends."

I sneered at her in return.

"What makes you think that I want to be friends with you, bitch?" I asked.

A small grin appeared on her face after I said that.

"Then we're on the same page. Good." She said.

She let out a sigh, before she went to go sit against the low wall. She looked up at us, with worry in her eyes. I swear that it looked like she was going to cry.

"Where do I go now? I don't have a home anymore." She said. "The Forever Knights' Tower was my home. I gave up my home to go down my own path, because deep down, I know it's the right thing to do."

She looked down to the rooftop floor.

"I don't know where to go from here." She whispered, loud enough for us to hear.

Albedo was the first to speak.

"Well for one, you'll live with us." He said.

"What?!" Lucky Girl and I both said in unison.

My Assailant just looked up with surprise.

"What?" she asked. "What did you just say?"

"You can live with us!" Albedo exclaimed.

"Why would you want me to live with you?" she asked.

"I agree with her, Albedo." Lucky Girl said, looking at him. "That's a terrible idea."

"No it's not! Think about it, Gwen. The Forever Knights cloned you without your permission." He said. "And they gave your clone one job: to kill Ben. They didn't give her a choice. She didn't get to choose her path; it was already laid out for her. But now, she can go down her own path! Don't you think that she deserves our help? Doesn't she deserve a few chances?"

I wasn't having any of this, while Lucky Girl looked like she was deep in thought. She eventually spoke.

"You know what, Albedo? You're right. She was brought up in this world with no other purpose but to kill Ben. Now, she gets to choose her path." She said, as she turned to look at my Assailant. "Albedo's right. You'll stay with us. You were on the wrong side of the fence. The Forever Knights are the bad guys, not the good guys. You deserve a chance to fight for the correct side."

"This isn't happening." I said.

Everyone ignored me.

"I've gone rogue from the Forever Knights now." My Assailant replied. "They'll come for me and try to take me back. Forcefully if they have to."

"Don't worry." Albedo said. "We'll help you fight them."

"Agreed." Lucky Girl said. "I mean, you are my clone. You could become something of a sister to me."

"You guys will help her fight them." I said. "I won't help."

Gwen turned to look at me with surprise.

"You won't help her?" she asked. "Why?"

Her response made me twitch a little, as I got angry.

"Why? Why?!" I exclaimed. "How about because she tried to kill me! Is that a good enough reason?!"

Lucky Girl and Albedo exchanged glances.

"But she's not trying to kill you anymore." Albedo said. "She won't try to kill you. It's in the past."

"Do you really expect me to live in the same house with a girl that tried to kill me?" I asked. "How are we going to explain this to our parents?"

Lucky Girl shot me a questioning glance.

"How are we going to explain everything to our parents?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Ben, it'll be fine! I can sleep on the downstairs couch and she can sleep on the upstairs couch!" Albedo said.

"No!" I exclaimed. "I'm not sleeping on the same floor as her! There's no way that's going to happen!"

My Assailant glared at me.

"The feeling is mutual, Tennyson." She said.

I rolled my eyes once more.

"Wait a second; we never got your name." Albedo said, as he looked at my Assailant. "What's your name anyway?"

"I was never given a name." my Assailant said.

I rolled my eyes and turned around to walk away. I wasn't interested in hearing about this.

"Really?" Lucky Girl asked. "You were never given a name? No name of any type?"

"The only designation that I was ever given was Project: Sunny." My Assailant said.

"Hmm, Sunny huh?" Lucky Girl asked. "I like it! It's got a bit of a ring to it."

"Yeah, it is pretty good." Albedo said.

"Okay, Sunny it is." My Assailant said. "I guess that's my name now."

They now noticed that I was walking away. I heard Lucky Girl's voice behind me as I picked up my mask.

"Ben? What are you doing?" she asked.

I turned to look at them.

"Do whatever the fuck you want." I said. "I'm going home."

I turned back around and walked away.

 _10:00 P.M._

"Don't worry about what Ben said. You can sleep out here on this couch." I heard Gwen talking to Sunny out in the living room. "Um, there are extra blankets in the closet if you get cold and I'll bring you a pillow before Ben and I go to bed."

"Thank you, Gwen." I heard Sunny say.

I rolled my eyes. I heard footsteps heading towards our room and Gwen walked in. Gwen and I didn't share any words, as she grabbed one of the extra pillows from the bed. As she left, I left the room myself to get a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt.

"Thank you, Gwen. I see you in the morning." I heard Sunny say.

"See you in the morning." I heard Gwen say, as I left my bedroom.

We both met in our bedroom and I closed the door once I got back in. I began to take my costume off, as Gwen looked at me.

"What?" she asked with confusion.

"I can't believe you and Albedo are offering her a home!" I said. "That bitch tried to kill me!"

"Don't call her that! She's not trying to kill you anymore!" Gwen said. "She's just confused! She needs a place to get her bearings and figure out who she is and what she wants to do with her life!"

"I don't care! She can do it somewhere else! I don't want her here!" I said. "Tomorrow morning I'm asking her to leave! I don't trust her!"

"You will not ask her to leave! Don't you get it? Now you know how I felt about Albedo!" she said. "This is payback!"

I pulled on my pajama pants as I listened to her.

"No, Gwen. She leaves tomorrow." I said. "I can't live in the same house with her. I'm sorry."

"But you have to try!" Gwen said, as I put on my T-shirt. "Promise me you'll try?"

"No." I said. "She can't stay here. I won't have it."

"Okay, then." Gwen said. "Well, if she leaves, so do I. Or better yet, I'll break up with you."

"Hey, no fair!" I said. "Now you're blackmailing me!"

"I am not! Besides, Sunny is the sister to me, like Albedo is a brother to you!" she said. "You can't send her away!"

I rolled my eyes, as I flopped down onto the bed.

"Fine! I'll try!" I said.

"Thank you." Gwen said.

After a few seconds, Gwen came over to me and laid down on top of me and began gently stroking my chest with her fingers. She had taken off her costume and gotten into pajamas before talking to Sunny.

"There's something else we need to talk about." She said.

"There is?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Ben, you died on that rooftop tonight." She said. "And yet, you're right here."

I sighed.

"I know that I died, Gwen." I said. "And I don't know how I'm alive right now, either. I can't tell if it has something to do with the Omnitrix, or if you somehow miraculously healed me, and you didn't even realize it."

Gwen just stared at me with a sad look in her eyes.

"What if I hadn't of been there?" she asked.

"Hey, don't think like that!" I said. "I already told you that I'm not going anywhere, and I meant it! Now come here."

I pulled her close to me and allowed her to rest her head on my chest, as I turned off the lights for the night.

 _The Next Day_

The next day was nothing special. Sunny was elsewhere at the moment, doing whatever it is Sunny does. Gwen, Albedo and I were sitting in the living room watching T.V. All of a sudden, I heard footsteps coming from the basement stairs.

Sunny walked in and stopped in front of the T.V. My jaw nearly dropped and I temporarily forgot why I distrusted her so much.

"How do I look?" she asked.

I stared her up and down. She had changed her costume up quite _a lot_. It looks like she had cut up her combat armor a little, or if it was possible, she had pulled a few sections off. She was completely sleeveless now, with only finger-less gloves on her hands. She had taken off part of the torso part of her armor, revealing her well-toned stomach.

The leggings of the armor had been cut down to shorts, with the shorts going down only to slightly above her knee caps. And her boots only went up to her shins now. I swear that if I hadn't had some control over myself, I may have drooled.

"You look good, I guess?" Albedo asked. "Ben, what do you think?"

"What? Oh yeah, sure." I said. "She looks great."

Sunny smiled in response to our reactions. Gwen all of a sudden grabbed my hand.

"We'll be right back." She said, as she pulled me past Sunny and out the front door.

Once we were outside and the front door was closed, she turned to look at me.

"What is going on with you?" she asked.

"Um, would you ever consider dressing like that for me?" I asked.

Gwen blushed a bright red color, before she slapped me on the cheek and turned around.

"You're just jealous!" she said, as she marched back into the house.

"I know!" I said, as I followed her.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the story arc! What did you guys think of the end?

* Do you like how Sunny got her name? Do you like her reasoning for dropping her flags? Is it justified that Ben doesn't want Sunny in his house, not trusting her? I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, as well as the arc!

* This may be the last time I update this story for a while. I want to have the next story arc completely finished before I update, as it is the final story arc before Volume One's end. Once the arc is finished, I'll probably post a chapter every day or every couple days. Let me know if you guys have a preference.

* Anyway, I'm going to go though so have a fantastic week and bye!

 **Review Responses**

 _csgt: A great chapter!_

 _I liked the tension between Ben, Gwen and Ken. Ken is getting too nosy, I think he is going to find out about Ben and Gwen being super-heroes AND about they being in a relationship. I don't know how he is going to react, but I'm very curious._

 _I liked Sunny. She is threatning and very powerful. I wonder if she will lose some of her powers before turning into an ally for Ben's team, just so things aren't too easy for them with her on their side._

 _About the fourth wall breaks, your choice. The talks about Spider-Man and Marvel stuff are kind of fourth wall breaks too, so I'm already used to it. I think Sunny will help cure Albedo, but I'm not sure._

Thanks for the feedback! Ken is being too nosy. He will definitely find out about them being heroes and about them being in a relationship. I can't talk about how he'll react, but I will say that not all of their family members will respond positively to the news. I'm glad you like Sunny. She may lose her ability to transform into a Pure Anodite, the ability could be suppressed by a medication, or she just chooses not to use it. I haven't decided yet.

I may or may not do more fourth wall breaks. I'm not sure why you consider Marvel talk to be fourth wall breaks. I always saw Ben reading comics in the original series, but I wonder what kind of comics he'd read, movies he'd watch and video games he'd play as a teen. I also don't understand why Marvel and DC can't exist in his reality. Thanks for your review!

 _jasongd: And another great chapter congrats And Albedo hawe a girlfriend good for you BWEN forever._

Thanks for the review. I mean yeah, Albedo and Sunny will get together at some point. But they're not considered boyfriend and girlfriend yet. It'll take a bit for them to get to that level. Not nearly as long as it took for Ben and Gwen to get together, mind you.

 _Zorobak: This arc was nothing more than you causing Ben to die and suffer needlessly.I hope she begs Ben for forgiveness. Was there even a reason for Ben to die? As an apology she should help him find a way to make it possible to transform with that device that prevented him from transforming and help him bring down the Forever Knights once and for all she owes him that much and it will help with smoothing over her joining the team._

No, this arc was not that at all. This arc was intended to introduce Sunny and see Albedo's transformation into the Man-Wolf. Yes, there was reason for Ben to die _AND_ come back. It was for dramatic effect. If you can name a super hero who hasn't died at least once, I may consider this. Spider-Man has died, Captain America has died, hell even Super-Man had died once. And they all came back! As for an apology, that's where you lost me, I'm sorry. I hate to say it, but I think you missed the point of this arc. Thanks for the feedback though, I guess.

Next Chapter: Sunny begins to settle into her place on Ben's team. Ben discovers worrisome news about Kevin.


	73. Chapter 72: Blood Brothers: Part 1

Chapter 72: Blood Brothers: Part One

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Seventy Two, as well as the first part of Volume One's final story arc: Blood Brothers! This story arc will last four chapters, and then Volume One will be finished.

* So, I hope you guys enjoy "The Beginning of the End"! The chapter begins here!

 _Kevin_

 _A Few Days Later_

"You're all going down!" I exclaimed, as I confronted a gang of street thugs.

The street thugs had been caught red handed in a drug deal with another gang of thugs. One set of thugs ran off, while the other set of thugs stayed to hold their ground. I was about to engage them, when I heard a voice coming from behind me.

"Need a hand?" the voice asked.

I turned around to see Ben in his Alien Guy costume, along with that pale skinned clone of his, that Lucky Girl character he'd been hanging out with as of late and another lady who sort of looked like his cousin Gwen.

"Thanks," I said, as I turned back around. "But I can handle this."

"They don't look so tough." Ben retorted from behind me.

I moved in, while in my mutated form, as Ben and his "team" moved in, even though I told them I can handle it. We started attacking the thugs, which did not take us all that long. Eventually, they were all knocked out and then we had the opportunity to talk. I looked up at Ben, to see him sticking to a wall, looking back at me.

Now, I had no idea how he was sticking to the wall. But I was at least remotely curious.

"What the hell, dude?" I exclaimed. "I said I could handle it!"

"Hey man, I just want to keep tabs on you!" he said. "I appreciate that you're trying to change your ways a little, but I still want to keep an eye on you!"

"I told you to leave me alone." I said.

"And I just said that I want to keep an eye on you." He said.

"Go home." I said. "Go home right now."

"No." Ben said. "You should thank us."

"Go home." I repeated myself.

"Kevin, please." He said. "I just feel like I need to check up on you."

"Well, you don't." I said. "So go home."

He was probably going to say something else, but before he could, he let out a scream of pain. He stood up on the wall, as he began to hold his head in agony, continuing to scream with pain. The people with him looked at each other with confusion. Eventually, he stopped screaming and just fell off of the wall.

Luckily, before he could hit the ground, the woman who looked like Gwen ran to catch him. I reverted back to my human form, which for some reason caused me to feel dizzy.

"Whoa. Whoa!" I exclaimed, as I struggled to maintain balance. "Whoa!"

I fell to the ground, as I began to feel nauseous.

 _Ben_

I don't know what happened. Kevin and I were just talking, when all of a sudden I had a vision. I had a vision of bad things to come. And then I just passed out. When I came to, I was resting my back against a wall.

I looked up to see Lucky Girl, Albedo and Sunny sporting looks of concern at me. I also saw Kevin resting himself against a wall.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you want to tell us what the hell that was?" Lucky Girl asked.

"I don't know." I lied. "I just glitched out, I guess."

"You just "glitched out"?" Lucky Girl asked, as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." I said. "I guess it was the ordeal with Sunny. I guess it left me more tired than I really was."

"Wimp." Sunny said.

"Shut up, you don't get to talk." I said.

Sunny just rolled her eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait. What's going on here?" Kevin asked. "Who's Sunny? And who is the guy who kind of looks like you?"

"That's Albedo. He's a clone of me, as weird as it sounds." I said. "And Sunny? Also a clone, but of Gwen. And Lucky Girl is Gwen."

"Ben, seriously? You were the one who's big on secret identities." She said. "And now you tell Kevin who I am?"

"Gwen, stop it." I said. "I know that I can trust Kevin with these secrets."

"That's different." Kevin said.

"You didn't question Albedo's existence when you were at my house a few days ago." I said.

He ignored me.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Sunny and Albedo are dating." I said.

"What?!" Albedo exclaimed as he blushed.

"No we're not!" Sunny exclaimed as she blushed herself. "We're just friends! Just friends."

"Sure. And Gwen and I are just cousins." I said.

"But we are." Gwen said.

"Gwen, be quiet." I said. "You're not helping."

Sunny looked at me.

"But seriously, Albedo and I are just friends."

"Just friends." I said.

 _A Couple Days Ago_

"Hey, I think we should just skip the hero stuff today." Gwen said. "You know, take a bit of a break?"

"Okay." I said. "What do you want to do instead?"

"I want to go out to lunch and maybe see a movie." She said. "Do you want to go ask Albedo and Sunny if they're interested?"

"Sure." I said, as I headed towards the hallway to the basement stairs.

I slowly walked down the stairs and began speaking.

"Hey Albedo, Gwen and-"

I stopped speaking once I stepped through the doorway to the basement and my jaw dropped when I saw it. Albedo and Sunny were making out. And they didn't pull apart upon hearing my voice. In fact, I didn't think they even realized that I was here. They just kept making out, without any realization to who was watching.

I turned around, very confused, and walked back up the stairs. Once I walked back up the stairs, I walked back into the living room, where Gwen was waiting for me, with the look of confusion still on my face. She returned my look of confusion with her own.

"What?" she asked in a confused tone. "What happened?"

I hesitated before speaking.

"I can honestly say that I have no idea what I just saw. Can I quit now?" I asked.

"Quit what?" Gwen asked.

"Can I quit this family? Seriously, just tell me where I can turn in my driver's license and my Social Security card." I said. "Seriously, I'm done."

She gave me an even more confused look.

"What did you see?" she asked.

"You won't believe me." I said.

"Just tell me." She said.

"No." I said. "You _won't_ believe me."

"Ben." I said in a serious tone.

"Fine." I said. "But you may want to sit down."

"I'll stand." she said.

"Okay, suit yourself." I said, as I took a deep breath. "I saw Sunny and Albedo making out."

Gwen's eyes widened with shock and her jaw dropped as well. She just stared at me, before after a few seconds; her face reverted back to a calm look.

"I'm sorry, Ben. I just can't believe you." She said. "I would have to see it for myself."

"I swear I saw them making out!" I said.

"I would have to see it for myself." She repeated herself.

"How can you not believe me?" I asked with confusion. "When Albedo first came into our lives, he lusted over you! Now, there's a clone of you, that's single. And he's single, too."

"She tried to kill you." Gwen replied.

I threw up my arms in defeat.

"Okay, I give up!" I said as I walked past her, towards the door. "Let's go to lunch and a movie!"

"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on!" she said, as she grabbed my forearm. "Tell me about what they were doing!"

"What does it matter?" I asked. "You don't believe me anyway!"

"But that doesn't mean I'm curious!" she said.

I turned to face her.

"Gwen, listen to what you just said." I said. "Why would you be curious about something that you don't believe? Let's just go."

 _Present Day_

"Sure." I continued speaking. "You guys are just friends."

"You should know that Kevin nearly fainted after you lost consciousness." Lucky Girl told me.

I turned to look at him.

"Is it true?" I asked with concern.

"What? No!" Kevin quickly said.

"Yes, you totally did!" Albedo said. "You fell off of your feet!"

I looked at Albedo and then back at Kevin.

"Kevin," I said. "You're not telling the truth."

He looked at me, before sighing in defeat.

"Fine, I'm not telling the truth." He said. "I haven't been feeling great lately. Whenever I transform, my body aches, my head hurts and I feel nauseous."

That troubled me and I immediately spoke with worry.

"I'm taking you to see my Grandpa Max." I said.

"No." Kevin said.

"Yes!" I exclaimed with anger. "You're my friend and now I'm worried after you've told me this! We're going whether you like it or not!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Jesus, fine." He said. "Whatever. Are you gonna cuff me while you're at it?"

I rolled my eyes in return.

"Come on guys, let's go home." I said, as I turned around.

"We're going home?" Gwen asked. "Why? I thought we were going to Grandpa's?"

"Oh, we are." I said. "But you know that Grandpa doesn't approve of your costume. So, we're all going home and changing into something more… decent. And Sunny's staying home."

"Why do I need to stay home?" Sunny asked in an angry tone, putting her hands on her hip.

"You tried to kill me." I said. "And when I introduce you to Grandpa Max like that, he'll have a cow."

"Just come up with another excuse!" Sunny said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Ooo, Ben! Ben! Ben!" Albedo said, as he put his hand up as if he were in school.

I turned to him as I sighed.

"What?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"I have an idea or two!" he said.

"No." I said. "I don't want to hear it."

"Hear him out." Sunny said, shooting me a death glare.

I rolled my eyes as I let out a sigh of anger.

"Fine. What are your ideas, Albedo?" I asked.

"You could say that she's a foreign exchange student!" he said.

"A foreign exchange student? That looks exactly like Gwen?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Okay, you could say that she's a S.E.C.T. Agent that is training you!" he said.

"That wouldn't work." I said. "Grandpa Max knows I turned down Director Steel's offer."

"How about-"

"Albedo, how about you shut the fuck up and just go with it?" I asked. "Would that be too hard?"

He shut up after that.

"Thank you." I said, as I turned back around. "Let's go, people."

"I want to meet Grandpa Max." Sunny said. "I'm going to have to do it at some point."

"Fine, whatever." I said. "Let's go."

 _One Hour Later_

I knocked on the door to the Rustbucket and stood there, waiting for him to answer. Eventually, he did answer and looked down at me.

"Good afternoon, Ben." He said. "What can I do for you today? Who do you have with you besides Gwen and Albedo?"

"Grandpa, this is my friend Kevin who needs help." I said, as I pointed at Kevin, before pointing at Sunny. "And this is Sunny. She is the assassin sent by the Forever Knights, who tried to kill me."

Grandpa Max looked past me and at her, before looking back at me.

"Um, why?" he asked. "Why did you bring her here?"

"Because she thinks that she'll have to meet you eventually." I said.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"Because she's living with us." I said.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Trust me; it doesn't make sense to me, either. After Albedo convinced her to drop her flags, he and Gwen convinced her that she could live with us." I said. "She believes that Sunny was on the wrong side of the fence. She also thinks that Sunny deserves a few chances."

Grandpa just looked at me.

"I don't understand." He eventually said.

"Yeah, neither do I." I said. "Did I mention that she killed me?"

"Wait, what?" Grandpa asked. "How could she have killed you? You're standing right here!"

"She killed me." I said.

"No, I didn't!" Sunny exclaimed.

I turned to face her, getting irritated.

"Yes, you did! You stabbed me in the shoulder!" I said in an angry tone. "I bled out! I remember bleeding out and taking my last breath!"

I turned to Gwen.

"She knows. She held my hand as I died!" I said. "And out of nowhere, I just woke back up, my wounds fully healed! I don't know what else to call it! I was dead; I was floating in a void!"

"Ben, I have no idea what happened either. I know you died, I saw it happen." She said to me, with a glum look on her face. "I don't know how you came back. Whether I unknowingly did something, or if God decided that it wasn't your time. I don't know."

"I. Didn't. Kill you." Sunny said.

"You're done talking." I said, without looking at her.

"Okay, whatever." Grandpa Max said. "What does Kevin need?"

"Kevin is an energy sponge." I said. "He can absorb-"

"I know what an energy sponge is, Ben." He said. "The Director of S.E.C.T. is an energy sponge."

 _So is that how Kevin got his powers?_

"Seriously?" Kevin asked. "The Director of S.E.C.T. is an energy sponge?"

"Yes, seriously." Grandpa said. "Now, what does he need?"

"A few weeks ago, he absorbed some of the energy that the Omnitrix gives off. Afterwards, he got himself into trouble. He was not in his right state of mind." I said. "He dropped Gwen and Ken off of the tallest building in Downtown Bellwood, I saved them granted, but he did do it."

"I'm sorry. How many times do I have to say it?" Kevin asked.

I turned to look at him.

"I forgive you. You weren't in your right state of mind." I said. "Saying it over and over doesn't help."

I turned back to look at Grandpa Max.

"And after that, he joined that Insidious Seven team that Ghostfreak put together. Once that team fell apart, we were all captured by the Forever Knights, where he was used like a puppet." I said. "He came by my house before Sunny showed up and told me that he was sorry for the things he did. He said that he wanted to try righting his wrongs and that he could walk a path that only he could walk."

Grandpa Max waited patiently for me to finish.

"And he's been complaining about feeling dizzy, as well as nauseous." I said. "Do you think you could determine whether or not if his powers are having negative effects on him?"

Grandpa Max looked at me for a second.

"Come inside." He said. "All of you. Let's get this done."

We all filed into the Rustbucket. Once inside, Gwen and I sat at the table and she held my hand out of worry. Sunny sat on the lower bunk, while Albedo sat at the table across from us. Kevin stood in front of Grandpa, while he explained the process to him.

"Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to take a sample of your blood." He said. "Once I do that, I'll look at the sample under a microscope and see what I can find. It may take a while, but we'll find out what's going on. Okay?"

"Okay." Kevin said.

"Alright," Grandpa said as he grabbed a needle. "Let's get started."

 _Half An Hour Later_

Grandpa Max walked back over to us. When I saw him, I immediately let go of Gwen's hand and stood up.

"What did you find?" I asked.

He looked at me and then to Kevin with a worried look in his eyes. That worried me.

"Grandpa?" I asked with worry.

"I don't know how to say it." He said. "So, I'll ask you a question first, Kevin."

"Okay. What's the question?" he asked.

Grandpa Max moved to a cabinet and opened it, brought out a stethoscope. Now I was even more worried. He walked over to Kevin, put the ear pieces into his ears and placed the end of the stethoscope against his chest.

"Wha-"

"Just breathe in and out." Grandpa said. "Steady breaths."

Kevin did as he was told.

"Okay, how many times a day do you use your power?" he asked.

"Um, several times a day." Kevin said. "I transform at least ten times a day."

"Mmm-Hmm." Grandpa Max responded. "What was the longest amount of time you went without reverting back into your human form?"

"Um, when I first attacked Ben was the first time that I mutated. And I stayed in that form for at least a week." He said.

"Okay, that only strengthens what I found." He said.

"Grandpa, _what_ did you find?" I asked in a worried tone. "You're worrying me."

Grandpa looked at me.

"So, transforming without the Omnitrix puts an enormous amount of strain on the human body." He said. "And he obviously isn't wearing the Omnitrix."

"What are you trying to tell me?" Kevin asked.

Grandpa turned to look at Kevin.

"Okay, here's what I found. I think that Kevin is addicted to the energy that he absorbed from the Omnitrix." He said. "Or possibly, he's addicted to the transformations, more specifically."

"There's something that you're not telling us." I said.

"You won't like what I say." He said.

"Max, just say it." Kevin said in a calm tone.

Grandpa Max just looked at us, eventually letting out a sigh.

"The addiction," he said. "It's killing him."

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the chapter! What do you guys think of the first part of the final arc?

* So yeah, Kevin is addicted to the transformations and he's dying because of it. Do you believe that? What about the flashback scene of Albedo and Sunny? Did you guys like that? Sunny and Albedo are in a relationship, they just aren't going public with it. Speaking of Sunny and Albedo, the next three chapters will go further in depth about their relationship.

* I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.

 _ **Review Responses**_

 _csgt: So I was right when I predicted that Sunny would be able to "cure" Albedo. Maybe he needs to be around her to stay "calm" otherwise he will turn into a werewolf-vampire creature again? I can see Albedo vouching for Sunny, but I definitely think that it will be hard for Ben to accept her, since she killed him._

 _I think Ben's temporary death is good if you have plans to explain his ressurection later or if you are going to explore how Ben was affected by the experience. Considering the end of the chapter, with Ben begging Sunny not to kill him, I guess that you are going to explore a shell-shocked Ben (I don't think Ben would beg for his life if he were mentally ok.) I'm definitely curious to see more on how his death with affect him._

Yes, you were right. Sunny did "cure" Albedo. Although I will say that Albedo is still infected with the virus, he's normal again. I can't say anything yet on whether or not he has to stay around Sunny to remain calm and human. Ben is definitely going to have to get used to Sunny, since she temporarily killed him.

I'll be honest about Ben's temporary death while I'm on that topic. Zorobak asked me if Ben really had to die. And I'll be honest. No, he didn't have to die. When I was writing the "Always Sunny In Bellwood" story arc, in the original script, Ben was not supposed to die. His death was a last minute change, which was supposed to tease an idea that would come later down the line. And I do mean _later down the line_. We probably won't see said idea in this year and I can't talk about what the idea is.

No, Ben is mentally fine. He's being serious when he's surrendering to Sunny. He's sick of fighting and he just wants Gwen and Albedo to be safe. And if him going with Sunny would mean their safety, than he'd do it.

 _Sishen123: Hey again thanks for the shout out by the way if you want to know what hollow ichigo sounds like watch this episode/113742-bleach-episode-125-english-dubbed also if wanna talk again sishen123 is my kik name but anyway. Love the chapter cant wait to read more and hope vol 2 and 3 are as awesome as this one :) until next time peace out_

Thanks for the review, Sishen123. I watch the episode sometime if I have the time. As for your Kik name, I'm sorry, but I don't have Kik. I'm glad you enjoy the story and that you think the story is awesome. I myself, though? I don't think my story is anything special. I honestly don't think my story is in the list of the top 10 Bwen stories. I think it's great that others think my story is awesome, but I really don't think my story is that great. Thanks for the feedback!

 _jasongd: And another great chapter congrats BWEN forever_

Thank you jasongd, glad you're enjoying the story still.

 _csgt (Chapter 71 review): Nice ending! I was suspecting that Ben would find a "motivation" to accept Sunny, and Gwen "blackmailing" him was fun XD_

 _Yes, I can definitely see the payback, with Ben bringing his "brother" Albedo to live with them, and now Gwen bringing her "sister" Sunny._

 _Hahahaha The ending was very funny. Sunny tried to kill Ben, but he can't help but to "admire" her looks XD Of course Gwen didn't like it._

Thanks for another review csgt. I'm glad you liked how the arc wrapped up. Ben only accepted Sunny because he didn't really have a choice, otherwise Gwen would have left him, I think that's what she said. Yep, that was intentional, to have Gwen payback Ben with bringing Sunny to live with them.

I'm glad you liked the ending, with Ben admiring Sunny's curves, her toned stomach and as well as her "assets", possibly. And it's a given that Gwen wouldn't like it. Anytime that Ben suggests something that Gwen would consider risqué or "slutty" even, Gwen's not going to like it. Thanks for more feedback!

 _Anon Mouse: Please don't take Sunny's powers away, in fact have her train Gwen. Overkill is under-rated, and seeing Ben get beaten up is getting monotonous._

 _Also Ben would have used XLR8 NOT diamond head for the fight (cause he usually uses his fast aliens against fast opponents… or any opponents for that matter)._

I never said that I might take Sunny's powers away, although I may choose to have her powers suppressed. About overkill being under-rated, I just don't want their fights to be too easy. They won't win all of their fights, but they will win fights. It's a sort of drama factor that plays into it, I guess.

Is it just me, or would it get old if they won all the time? I feel like if they won every fight, then it would just get dull and maybe it is just me. I can understand that seeing Ben getting beaten up is getting dull. But he's an amateur. He still doesn't know how to properly operate the Omnitrix.

And besides, wouldn't it be monotonous if he won every single fight? And about how Ben should have used XLR8 instead of Diamondhead, I suppose you're right. When I wrote that chapter, I wasn't really thinking. So, it was Diamondhead instead of XLR8. Thanks for clearing that up Anon Mouse, and thanks for your feedback!

 _BlackKrow: Gotta say, im just now reading this, which im really liking so far. I do have to say, even with her obsession with 'Alien Guy', I think it was pretty cold to write Gwen wanting to get more pictures of him rather than look for her missing cousin. Other than that I think it's pretty good so far from what little I've read._

Thank you for your input, BlackKrow. I'm glad that you are enjoying this story. Yes, I suppose that it was cold to write Gwen's character in this way, even if she was mad at him, which she was. But that chapter was a long time ago, so I wouldn't expect a change to it. But nevertheless, I do appreciate your feedback.

As for your other review, I'll be responding to it in the next chapter, which will be posted tomorrow. The other review was too long for me to include here, but I do intend to respond to it. Thanks for your feedback!

Next Chapter: In the aftermath of the revelation, Kevin is restricted from using his ability to transform. Someone close to Ben learns about his secret identity.


	74. Chapter 73: Blood Brothers: Part 2

Chapter 73: Blood Brothers: Part Two

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Seventy Three! Also, welcome to Part Two of the new "Blood Brothers" story arc! I'm not even going to say anything about this chapter. I'm just going to say that I hope you guys enjoy the chapter. We're going to get right down into it!

 _Ben_

I felt as though my heart had stopped. Kevin looked as shocked as I was.

 _Kevin was addicted to the Omnitrix's energy. And the addiction was killing him?_

I looked back up at Grandpa Max, as he looked at me with a sad look. I eventually spoke with disbelief.

"You're lying." I said. "Please tell me you're joking, Grandpa!"

"I wish that I were joking." He said. "I really do."

I shook my head, refusing to believe what he said.

"No! You're lying!" I shouted at him. "You're lying!"

Grandpa Max shook his head.

"I'm not lying, Ben." He said. "It's the truth."

"Wait, hold on a second." Kevin said, as he stepped forward. "I'm dying?!"

Grandpa Max turned to look at Kevin.

"You're not dying. My analysis is that you are addicted to transforming into alien forms. That addiction is killing you." He said. "Now, here's the thing. If you stop using the power, than you won't die. If you stop transforming, the threat will eventually go away."

"Grandpa, that doesn't make any sense." I said.

"Okay, okay. Let me step back a little bit. I listened to his heartbeat. It's weak and labored." He said. "This only strengthened my theory that his body couldn't handle the constant switching between human and alien forms. The constant pulling apart of his DNA and reforming into Alien DNA, it's too much for his heart to handle. If he keeps doing it, it _will_ kill him."

"So, I have to quit using my powers?" Kevin asked.

"No. You only need to stop transforming." Grandpa Max said. "You can continue absorbing states of matter. You just can't transform anymore."

Kevin and I looked at each other with worry. We both eventually looked back at Grandpa.

"So, I can never transform again?" Kevin asked.

"No. Not at least until you're completely clean." He said. "And once that's done, maybe, just maybe you'll be able to use it small bit by small bit. Who knows? In the future, I may be able to create an Omnitrix-like device that will allow you to transform without it putting too much of a strain on your body. Because I know that you'll still want to use that power."

Kevin looked at me.

"No, I can't do it." He said.

"What do you mean you can't do it?!" I exclaimed. "It's the prospect of not dying! You shouldn't have to think about it!"

"Ben, I can't do it!" he said. "I can't stop using my ability to transform! I am nothing without that ability!"

"If you're nothing without that ability, then you don't even deserve to have it!" I said in a stern tone.

"But it's not fair!" Kevin said. "I can't do anything else without that power!"

"Yeah, for a brick, you can fly pretty good!" Albedo exclaimed.

"Shut up, Albedo." Kevin said in an angry tone, before turning to look at Grandpa Max. "Seriously, I have to quit using my power to transform?"

Grandpa Max nodded. Kevin looked down at the floor.

"This _so_ isn't fair!" he said.

"What isn't fair?" I asked. "Not dying isn't fair? Grow up, Kevin! You knew what you were getting into when you absorbed the Omnitrix's energy!"

Kevin just stared at me.

"Ben, I figured out what was wrong with him." Grandpa Max said. "Now it's time for you to get home. You need to keep an eye on Kevin, make sure that he doesn't try to transform again. I may be able to make something that can lower the strain the transformations have on his body. But until then, he's prohibited from transforming."

"Come on, this is bullshit!" Kevin exclaimed, as he turned around and threw the door open, leaving without another word.

I turned and watched him leave, before Grandpa spoke.

"Ben, you need to catch up with him and make sure he doesn't attempt to transform." He said. "And make sure he gets home okay."

I nodded, before stepping outside.

"Go with him. All three of you." He told the rest of my group. "Sunny, it was… interesting to meet you, to say in the least."

"I'm sorry if my introduction was left anything to be desired." I heard her say.

"You guys should go now." He said.

After that, I turned to watch Kevin and ran to catch up with him.

 _Sunny_

 _A Few Nights Ago_

I was having trouble getting to sleep on the couch, being my first night getting away from my employers. I rolled over onto my side once again, as I let out a sigh. All of a sudden, I could have sworn I heard howling coming from the downstairs.

It wasn't the louder howling that I had heard Albedo's Beast form howl earlier tonight. I kicked off my blanket and sat up in confusion. I heard it again a few seconds later. It was a bit of a low howl, but I could still hear it.

I considered going downstairs to check on him, before I got up to walk over to the room that Gwen shared with Ben. Once I got to the door, I gently knocked before quietly opening it.

"Gwen?" I quietly called out her name.

I noticed that she was asleep, snuggled up against Ben, with his arms wrapped around her. I felt guilty about waking them up, but I silently called her name once again. She stirred a little bit and eventually opened her eyes. I could see her green irises glowing in the dark. It took her a while to notice that I had woken her.

"Sunny?" she said sitting up a little, trying not to wake Ben. "What is it?"

"I keep hearing howling noises from Albedo downstairs." I said. "Shouldn't we check on him? Or shouldn't someone check on him at least?"

Gwen didn't seem to hear what I said at first.

"No. Just go back to bed." She said, as she laid back down on Ben's chest. "We can check on him in the morning."

"Okay." I said, as I began to quietly close the door. "Good night."

"Good night, Sunny." She said, as I closed the door.

Once I had shut the door, I walked back over to the couch. I was about to lie back down, when the curiosity got to me. I moved away from the couch and towards the basement stairs. I walked into the basement hallway and towards the stairs.

I slowly walked down the stairs and the howling began to get slightly louder. Once I stepped into the room, I looked around, trying to see where his howling was coming from. I finally noticed Albedo curled up on the pull-out couch, with a blanket over him. It looked as though he was asleep, even though he was still silently howling.

I cautiously approached him and eventually stopped at the edge of the pull-out mattress. I had no idea what to do. The old me would have just walked away from this, not a care in the world. I had no idea why, but I felt inclined to help. So, I stepped closer to the mattress.

"Albedo?" I cautiously called out to him.

He suddenly bolted upright and the blanket fell off of him, and I saw that he didn't have a shirt on. He also still had his tattered jeans on. He hadn't even bothered to change out of the pants that had been damaged upon his transformation. I sat down on the edge of the mattress next to him and crossed my right leg underneath my left leg.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked in a concerned tone.

He whipped his head around to face me and I noticed that his face was slightly hairy. Not only that, but I could slightly see his fangs and his eyes were sort of dark. It was as if he were in his "in between form", where he wasn't completely in his Beast form. Once he saw me, I noticed that his fangs disappeared from view, along with the hair on his face, and his eyes had reverted back to their pulsing red color.

"Albedo?" I asked with caution once again.

 _Why do you even care about what he's going through? You're Sunny! You are a weapon bred to do nothing but kill! You aren't supposed to have friends, you aren't supposed to care. You are a cold blooded creature, so why don't you act like it?_

I had all of these thoughts swirling around in my head. I didn't know why I felt this way, I felt concerned for Albedo's health. It wasn't really me. I'm not supposed to be a caring person. I was bred as a weapon. I was raised to be a killer.

And yet here I was, concerned for Albedo's well being. I was at a loss for words. Like I had said, this wasn't like me. And yet I didn't seem to care that this wasn't like me. He just looked at me.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked. "What do you want?"

"Are you okay?" I asked with concern once again.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I heard you howling down here." I said. "And I just wanted to see if you were alright."

"You're lying." He said. "I'm fine."

"Really?" I asked. "Then you don't recall feeling ill or anything like that?"

"Feeling ill?" he asked. "Sunny, what are you talking about?"

"I swear that I heard you howling down here." I said. "I know it sounds weird, but I just want to know: Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He said, as he laid back down, rolling over onto his side, facing away from me. "Thanks for asking."

"Albedo!" I said.

He sat up and stared at me with an annoyed look on his face.

"What?" he said in an annoyed tone.

I didn't answer him. I had no idea why, but I felt calm. As I scooted closer to him, it felt as though my heart was beating a million miles per hour.

"Sunny, what are you-"

Albedo stopped speaking once I grabbed his shoulder. He looked at me with a shocked expression. I had no idea what I was doing with this, but I moved even closer to him and kissed him. His eyes widened as he felt my lips against his. My heartbeat was fine now; opposed to before I kissed him. My heartbeat had slowed back down to it's usual pace. And I had no idea why it was like that. The other time I felt like this was when I had "calmed" him down while he was in his Beast form.

I continued to kiss him and he eventually closed his eyes, after which I did the same. I had no idea where this was going, but as we continued to make out, I pushed him down so that I was lying on top of him.

And then he crossed the line. Or so the old me would have thought. His hands came down to rest on my sides. And for some reason, I was okay with all of this.

 _Ben_

 _Present Day_

Kevin had gone home. He had given me his "Screw you Ben, you aren't looking out for my best interests and your Grandpa is bullshitting me." He was immature and needed to grow up. This was real. His addiction to the Omnitrix's energy was killing him and if he doesn't stop transforming, he would die.

Gwen, Albedo and Sunny walked several feet behind me, keeping their distance from me and letting me be alone with my thoughts. We were walking home now and liked I said, they hung back a little behind me to give me some time to process all of this. I walked the sidewalk, with my head down, looking at the ground as I walked.

We were nearing the house now and when I looked up, I saw something that made me stop dead in my tracks. The front door was wide open. I looked behind me to Gwen, Albedo and Sunny. They didn't react to the look on my face. In fact, I don't think any of them looked at me.

I turned back around to face the house and out of fear for our safety, I ran towards the house. Once I got to the house, I ran through the door and called out.

"Is anyone here?" I called out in a fearful tone.

When I didn't hear a response, that's when I got scared. I walked all throughout the house, looking for someone, anyone who could have broken in. I went to go check the basement, but I didn't find anyone down there.

I quickly ran back upstairs, to find Gwen, Albedo and Sunny waiting for me in the living room. Gwen looked at me with concern.

"Why did you run off like that?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know." I said. "I just saw that the front door was-"

A noise interrupted me and prevented me from finishing my sentence. The noise came from the room that Gwen and I now shared.

"Open." I finished my sentence, as I turned to look in that direction.

"Ben? What is it?" Gwen asked.

I put my hand out to her, signaling for her, Albedo and Sunny to wait for me to come back. I moved away from them and walked towards the bedroom, with the door to it being wide open like the front door had been.

When I walked closer to look into the room, I wasn't really surprised to see Ken standing in the middle of the room. He must have noticed me out of his peripheral vision, because he slowly looked up at me with an angry look in his eyes. The look scared me a little, but something scared me more.

The thing that scared me the most; was what he had in his hands. In his left hand, was my Black Suit Spider-Man Mask, along with my leather jacket. And in his right hand, was Gwen's leather jumpsuit that she used for her Lucky Girl costume.

"You what?" he asked in disbelief.

"Ken! Ken, this – this isn't what it looks like!" I said, as I stepped into the room, to which he responded to by backing away from me.

"Ben… You're Alien Guy." He said, as he looked at me in disbelief. "You're that thing from the news. And my sister, my sister is Lucky Girl."

He looked at me, as if he were going to cry.

"And to think that I came here, thinking that I'd find drugs." He said.

"Drugs would have been worse-"

"No, no, no. Drugs would have been better than this." He said, dropping my mask, leather jacket and Gwen's suit. "Anything but this would have been better, Ben."

He continued to look at me, while I was speechless due to the current situation.

"And that's not even the worst part." He said, as tears rolled down both of his cheeks.

I was confused at this point. What could be worse than this?

"What's the worst part?" I asked with fear.

"You… You're fucking my sister!" he yelled with anger in his voice.

My eyes widened.

 _He knew. But Gwen and I hadn't done it yet. But how did he know? I mean sure, Gwen and I were "partners in crime", but surely he couldn't piece together the fact that we're dating, just from him finding both of our costumes!_

I heard Gwen run over to the door and stop, obviously when she saw her brother with our costumes at his feet. I didn't dare turn to look at her, knowing how angry Ken was now, me looking at her or showing affection towards her would only make this worse.

"So how'd you do it?" I asked. "How did you find out about us being superheroes? And "us", ultimately?"

"I was over here earlier in the day, snooping in the yard. And about an hour ago, I saw Kevin come here with all of the two heroes - you guys, also with that silver haired guy and a girl who looked suspiciously like my sister." He said. "So, when he left with you guys, now in your street clothes and those two people again, I took my chance. I came in here, into Gwen's room and I found this heap of shit."

I just stared at him in disbelief.

 _Unbelievable. This man doesn't trust his own sister, so he goes snooping in her guest room here. And he finds her costume; coincidentally that's where my costume happened to be._

"And after I found this, I called Grandpa Max and asked him if he knew that you two were superheroes." He said. "And he said yes. When I asked him if there was anything else that I needed to know, he told me that you guys were fucking."

 _There's no way that Grandpa would tell Ken that. Okay, I don't doubt that Grandpa told him that Gwen and I are together. But I doubt he used those exact words. The thing here is that Ken is so fucking arrogant that he can't see the truth of the matter._

I let out a sigh, as I looked up at him, Ken meeting my gaze with anger. And it wasn't just anger; he looked like he wanted to kill me. And could I blame him? I should have told him about Gwen and I from the get-go. But why didn't I?

Because I feared that this exact scenario would happen. Well okay, maybe not _this exact scenario._ But let's think about this for a second. Why would Ken be happy about this? He was always protective over Gwen, her being his little sister. And her dating a guy that was blood? Somehow, I don't think that would help the situation.

I pulled my phone out, remembering how he mentioned that he called Grandpa. I unlocked my phone and it told me that I had one missed call from Grandpa Max.

 _He must have called me, to try to warn me about this. And I was so busy thinking about what had happened with Kevin earlier today that I didn't even notice my phone vibrate._

I finally let out a sigh, escaping my thoughts.

"Look man, I don't see this ending well for me or anyone in any sense." I said. "So, I'll just ask: What do you want?"

Ken just looked at me, the anger not fading from his eyes whatsoever. He eventually started speaking, and it scared me that he was speaking a completely calm tone.

"I came here wanting two things." He said. "Let's start with the first thing. How about you apologize?"

"Excuse me?" I asked in a surprised tone.

"You heard me." He said. "I want you to apologize for violating my sister!"

"What?!" I exclaimed with surprise.

Gwen immediately got in front of me, as if to defend me from her brother.

"Ken, you don't know what you're talking about! This isn't a one-sided relationship and he didn't violate me!" she exclaimed. "We're in-"

"Gwen, stop talking and go back out there!" Ken said. "A, you're not in love with him! He's just using you! And B, you're not staying here. You're coming back home with me! God, do Mom and Dad even know about this?!"

"No, they don't! And it'll be-"

"Stop talking and get out of here!" he said. "I already told you what's happening!"

I turned to Gwen, not caring how angry Ken was.

"No, you stay." I said. "You're not doing anything wrong."

I turned back to Ken.

"Look, leave Gwen out of this. You and I are talking." I said. "We're talking about how I'm a superhero and I lied to you, and how ultimately I'm dating your sister."

Ken just stared at me, with the same look of anger in his eyes. He let out a sigh before speaking.

"You couldn't be any more wrong." He said, in an angry tone now. "We're talking about how I protected you throughout grade school, middle school and high school, and you fucking my sister is how you repaid me! So now, I'm going to beat your little ass!"

I heard Gwen run away from the door as I backed up away from Ken, while anticipating what he would do. He let out a yell of anger, as he lunged towards me. I quickly sidestepped and he tripped over himself, going down and eating the floor. I tried to run out of the room, but Ken was fast.

I felt him grab me from behind and I was put into a headlock, as he slammed me face first into the wall. I hissed in pain, as he pulled my head back, before slamming my face into the wall again. To prevent him from doing it anymore, I used my foot to kick his knee, which loosened his hold around my neck.

I elbowed him in the shoulder to the best I could and I escaped the headlock. I ran into the living room as he quickly recovered. Gwen, Sunny and Albedo looked in shock, as I got into a fighting stance, and as Ken moved towards me.

"Is that all you got?" I asked in a confused tone.

"Ben, don't antagonize him!" Gwen exclaimed.

"No, Gwen!" Ken exclaimed with anger, as he put his hand out to tell her to be quiet. "He wants to know how much I can dish out, so I'll show him!"

He turned to look at me.

"You are a dead man!" he exclaimed. "I'm going to fucking kick your ass, Tennyson!"

He lunged towards me and this time I wasn't able to get out of the way, as he wrapped his arms around my waist, taking me down to the floor.

"I swear Ken, you have the wrong idea-"

"You know, I think that you won't be doing anything to piss me off any more!" he exclaimed, as he lifted my head up and slammed it into the floor.

 _Jeez, is that his favorite move?! He's slammed my head into something three times now! Try some originality, Ken!_

He got up a little and lifted up his leg, getting his knee ready to obviously nail me in a painful place.

"Oh no!"I exclaimed, as I kicked him off of me.

He fell onto his butt and gave me a look of anger as I quickly stood up, getting back into a fighting stance.

"Come on, get up! Fight me like you were going to!" I exclaimed.

Ken got up.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked. "Your nose is bleeding. Don't you think you should just throw in the towel and apologize already?"

I felt my nose and pulled my hand back, to see that there was no blood. That was my mistake. Because while I was checking my nose, Ken took the time to slug me in the jaw. My head was forced to the right and that's when I lost it. I looked back at Ken, my lip bleeding now with anger.

 _Oh, that's it pal,_ I thought as I wiped my lips with my hand. _I tried to tell you that I didn't want to fight._

I slugged him in the jaw, sending him to the ground. Once he was down, I sat down on top of him and punched him in the face a few times. Once I was done, I got off of him. I walked away from him, while shooting him my own look of anger for making me do that.

"What?" Ken asked in confusion as I walked away. "Is that all you got?"

I heard him get up behind me, as Gwen began to speak.

"Trust me, Ken." Gwen said. "Ben could have really laid you out if he really felt like it."

"Oh, because I suppose you would know?" he asked. "You being the-"

That's when I completely lost it. See, I was kind of okay when he wouldn't let me explain to him where he was wrong, I just needed to throw a few punches, you know? Alleviate some of the anger that had been welling up inside of me.

And I even understood why he was so mad, to a certain extent. See, I get that he is the older brother and the he is protective over Gwen, I get that. Who wouldn't want to protect their younger sister from the wrong guy?

But he was taking it too far. I wasn't the wrong guy and I hated how my cousin and brother was just accusing me of doing things I hadn't done. And he was about to say something about Gwen. And it wasn't a nice thing that he was going to say about her. He was going to something rude about his own sister, and I didn't want to hear it.

I whipped back around and slugged Ken in the jaw. He was surprised by the attack, as he didn't have time to counter as I punched him again. I punched him in the face several more times, before I kicked him square in the chest.

He fell over, but I didn't stop there. I walked over to him and knelt down, grabbing him by his shirt. Then, I picked him up with just one hand, much to his fright.

"Jesus, dude. What's happened to you?" he asked, as I held him up above the floor.

I ignored him and started talking.

"Don't you ever talk about your sister like that!" I exclaimed through gritted teeth. "Your sister is happy with me and as much as you don't want to believe me, I haven't done anything bad to her! So you can just shut the fuck up about it!"

After I was done talking, I raised my fist up to his face, ready to punch him squarely in the face.

"Ben, don't!" Gwen desperately yelled.

I looked over at Gwen, to see that she had a pleading look in her eyes. After I looked at her for a few more seconds, I looked back at Ken. He looked back at me and eventually closed eyes as he grit his teeth, as if he were expecting me to punch him.

I eventually decided not to punch him. Although I still wanted to hurt him for what he was going to say about Gwen. So instead of punching him, I tossed him aside, causing him to hit the wall back first.

No one said anything in response to what I just did. I looked at Ken, as he got back up. He looked at me with an angry face as he stood up. I looked at him with an even angrier face, thinking about what I should say. Eventually I had to speak, so I did.

"Get the fuck out of my house, Ken." I said with an angry tone.

"So I guess she hasn't told you?" he asked.

"Get the fuck out of my house!" I yelled at him.

As much as I was curious as to what he had meant by that, I didn't care. Ken had crossed one too many lines and I wanted him out of my house.

"No!" Ken exclaimed in an angry tone. "I came here to beat the absolute shit out of you, so the best you can do is listen to what I have to say!"

I looked at him with anger.

"Speak." I said with anger.

He smiled in return, knowing that he'd bested me.

"Okay, now that I have your attention, let me-"

"Just shut your God damn mouth and tell me what you need to tell me!" I exclaimed, in an angry and impatient voice.

He gritted his teeth in anger before he spoke.

"I suppose that she never told you about our family tree?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"I also suppose that she hasn't told you about where that jewel actually came from?" he asked.

I shook my head once again. Ken let out an angry sigh, as he looked down at the floor. He eventually looked back up to me.

"Then I'm guessing that you didn't know that the jewel was meant for me to use, and not her?" he asked. "And that it's not even a jewel, it's a charm?"

My eyes widened with shock.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah! I was supposed to get that charm before Gwen came along!" he said. "Once our parents realized how powerful Gwen was, they decided that they'd give her all of the stuff that Grandma V left behind while she was here. And it drove me crazy knowing that I wasn't special anymore!"

Gwen and I looked at each other, both of us as equally confused as the other was. Gwen looked at Ken.

"Ken, what are you talking about? I don't even have a "Grandma V"!" she said. "And what do you mean it drove you crazy when you weren't special anymore? You're not making any sense!"

Ken looked surprised by this.

"Oh come on, Gwen!" Ken replied. "Don't tell me that Mom and Dad never told you about Grandma V!"

Gwen just shook her head and I was still as equally confused as she was.

"Do we even have a Grandma V?" she asked.

"Yes, we do!" Ken said. "Did Mom and Dad really not tell you?"

I decided that this would be the part where I chimed in.

"Look man, maybe there's a reason that for-"

"You, shut up and let me talk!" he exclaimed with anger, as he looked at me.

He looked back at Gwen.

"Seriously?" he asked. "Mom and Dad never told you?"

Gwen just shook her head with confusion.

"You keep calling the crystal a charm." She finally spoke.

"That's because it isn't a crystal. Or a jewel." He said. "It's a charm. How many times do I have to say it?"

"Okay." Gwen said. "Does the charm have a name?"

Ken nodded.

"Yes. Yes, it does." He said. "It's called the Charm of Bezel."

The name didn't ring a bell to me. I looked over at Gwen, who shook her head at me; as if to tell me she didn't recognize the name either. But I wasn't buying it. I felt as though she were lying to me.

 _No, I didn't feel like she was lying to me. The Omnitrix was making me feel that way. It had to be. The damn thing is alive! It can determine what emotions I feel and what thoughts are in my head!_

So no, I didn't feel like she was lying to me. The Omnitrix must feel that she lied to _it_ , if that makes sense. Who knows if this thing has it's own emotions? Knowing that it has brain waves, it probably does feel. I turned to look back at Ken.

"What is it? What is the Charm of Bezel?" Gwen asked him.

"It's quite possibly the most powerful magical charm in all of existence." Ken said.

I rolled my eyes, not believing his little talk.

"Why do we have it?" Gwen asked. "And uh, how powerful is it?"

"It exponentially amplifies your power." Ken said.

"My power?" Gwen asked in confused tone.

"Oh come on, Gwen! Do you really think that the power you have, you just got mysteriously?" he asked. "No, it runs in our blood. I mean, my powers never manifested, but yours finally did. The Charm of Bezel amplifies the powers of an Anodite or Anodite-Human Hybrid."

"There's that name again!" Gwen replied.

"And you don't know what it means, do you?" Ken asked.

Gwen shook her head.

"Where'd the Charm come from?" she asked.

"Grandma V left it with us when she left." Ken said.

"We don't have a Grandma V!" Gwen exclaimed with annoyance.

This is where I decided to cut off the conversation before Ken could start yelling again.

"Yes-"

I quickly interrupted Ken before he could continue.

"Alright Ken, you told us what you needed to tell us." I said. "Now I need you to leave."

Ken looked at me with anger once again.

"No, I'm not going anywhere! Not without Gwen." He said in an angry tone.

"I don't want to go. I want to stay-" Gwen began to speak, but Ken interrupted.

"You're not staying here, because I don't want you staying with him!" he exclaimed angrily, as he pointed at me.

I defensively stepped in front of Gwen.

"Gwen isn't going with you, because she doesn't want to go with you." I said, as I turned and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. "She wants to stay here, where she knows she'll be safe."

Ken looked at me with shock.

"What? You think that I want to hurt my own sister?" he asked. "What the fuck is wrong with you? What the fuck is wrong with all of you?!"

"She doesn't want to come with you." I repeated myself. "You're coming off to be very threatening."

"So you think that you can protect her better than me?" he asked in an angry tone, as he stepped closer to me.

"No." I said in a calm tone.

"You think that your better than me, is that it?" he asked.

"No." I said once again, in a calm tone.

Ken just looked at me, his face growing red from his anger. I opened my mouth and began to speak.

"I don't think I'm better than you and I don't think that I can protect Gwen any better than you could. You want to know what I think? I think that you are going about this all the wrong way. You are being a dick to your sister and you're being a dick to me. You should go home, calm down a little and come back another day so we can just sit down and talk about this. I'll be here. So go home. Go home and think about what you've done."

Ken looked away from me, his lips curling up into what was possibly the meanest frown I'd ever seen. He finally turned back to look at me about ten or fifteen seconds later.

"What about that silver haired guy that looks exactly like you? What about the blonde that looks exactly like my sister?!" he exclaimed. "I want answers, God damn it!"

I let out a sigh of anger, wanting so much to punch him.

"You've heard all you will today out of me, Ken." I said. "Now I want you to get out of my house. Please."

Ken just looked at me with anger, before turning around towards the door. When he reached the door, he turned to face me.

"Don't call me your brother. Don't call me on the phone. Don't come by my house. We're done!" he exclaimed, before slamming the door shut.

I was shocked. It wasn't like Ken to do something like that. I looked down at the floor. I wasn't going to cry. I wasn't sad or anything. I don't know what I was.

 _Had Ken just said that we were friends anymore? Was I essentially dead to him?_

A minute or so passed after Ken had left, before Sunny and Albedo left us in the living room and went downstairs. I turned to Gwen, for some reason feeling betrayed.

"You lied to me?" I asked.

A confused look crossed her face.

"What? No!" she said. "Ben, I would never lie to you! I didn't even know what Ken was talking about? I don't know any "Grandma Vs" and I don't know what the Charm of Bezel is! And I have no idea what an Anodite is, either!"

I looked at her, before sighing.

"You're right. You weren't lying to me." I said. "I don't know why I said that. I'm just so confused right now."

Gwen just looked at me. I let out a sigh, as I walked over to the couch and flopped down onto it. Gwen sat down next to me as I reached for the TV remote. I turned on the TV and just flipped through the channels until I came to the news channel, which had something on that caught my attention.

There was something on the news about Animo. And not just any average everyday ordinary Animo stuff. It was something about Animo going crazy and attacking Downtown Bellwood. I mean, the media didn't know that the pale skinned, green-haired Goliath that was attacking the city was Animo. But I knew.

Gwen stood up from the couch in response to what she was seeing. Once she recovered from her shock, she looked at me with a smile on her face.

"Come on! Let's go!" she exclaimed while tugging on my hand, trying to get me to get up. "We have to save the day!"

I shook my head.

"No. I don't want to." I said.

Gwen looked at me with shock.

"What do you mean you don't want to?!" she exclaimed. "We're super heroes, Ben! We never back down from any threat, be it a small one or a big one!"

I shook my head once again.

"I already told you that I don't want to." I said, as I got up from the couch. "I'm not in the mood to go out. I just need to clear my head. I'm going to go shower."

"Do you want me to join you?" she asked.

"You can if you want to." I said, as I walked into the bathroom. "But seeing as we just got chewed out by your brother, maybe it's such a good idea."

 _Later That Night_

I laid in bed later that night, with one arm under the pillow as I looked up at the ceiling while I was in thought. Gwen lay next to me, on her stomach with her arms underneath her pillow. She used to be snuggling against me, but she moved away from me in her sleep. That was all well and good by me.

Not that I didn't want to snuggle with her, but I still had conflicted thoughts. I felt guilty about the things that I had said to Ken earlier today. And Animo was still attacking the city, the last time I heard, but I could care less. I let out a sigh, as I flipped over onto my side, facing away from Gwen.

 _I had to go apologize to Ken tomorrow, despite his warnings not to come to his house. I said some things that I didn't mean, and I wanted to make amends, whatever the cost._

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for this chapter! What did you guys think? Does it make sense how Kevin could be dying because of his addiction to the Omnitrix's energy and the transformations? Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't, whichever is fine with me.

* How do you think the Ben vs. Ken conflict went? Is it justified that Ken is angry with Ben for being with his sister? Did Ken take it too far by accusing Ben of doing that to Gwen, as well as wanting to beat the crap out of him? Also, while I'm on the topic of Ken, when he said that drugs would be better than them being superheroes, that's a reference to the movie Kick-Ass 2, which is based off of the comic book series of the same name, for those who didn't know.

* And Ken finally shed some light on Gwen's Anodite heritage! When Ken mentioned a "Grandma V", he was mentioning Verdona. Speaking of Verdona, I'm not sure if she'll ever make an appearance in the story. I'm just not quite sure yet how Anodites and Anodyne will work in this story. I've always found Anodites to be confusing, especially in Ben 10: Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, where I never really understood them at all. Shout out to fellow writer csgt, who is actually doing a pretty good job of explaining the whole Anodite and Anodyne thing in his story. I'm just not sure yet if I want to go through the trouble of creating a backstory for them.

* Were you guys surprised to find out that the crystal that Gwen wears around her waist while she's Lucky Girl, is actually the Charm of Bezel? I know that in the shows, they are the _Charms_ of Bezel and that Hex has them, but that will be explained later down the line.

* Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm going to go though, so have a great day and bye.

 _ **Review Responses**_

 _BlackKrow: So, I finally got caught up with this story. Gotta say, so far my favorite arc is the omniverse one you did to be completely honest. I felt like it was pretty great overall. I do however think the Sunny arc was a little… I dont know the best word for it really, a bit ridiculous, or unbelievable maybe?_

 _I think the ending parts of it were a bit rushed. I understand there's probably a reason for Ben's death and that it will show up later in the story, but maybe it was a bit too short? I don't really know, but I didn't have much of a problem with it._

 _I do however think Sunny's pretty much complete 180 from trying to kill Ben to listening to Albedo and thinking he's right about her needing to say "screw the forever knights and the what they could do", was almost exactly what I mean by saying that it's unbelievable and ridiculous._

 _She literally said that they punished her for not getting the kill on Ben and that she had to make sure the job was done, then after technically confirming the kill she calms Albedo down, he talks to her, and she decides that she should change, even knowing and telling them the Forever Knights will attempt to take her back by force? I just don't see it._

 _Also, Gwen just going along with it and thinking it would be fine for Sunny to live with them jjat because she says she wont try to kill Ben anymore? Again, i just don't see it. Especially when she gives the reason of it partially being payback since Albedo is living with them? Isn't that taking it a bit too far?_

 _Yeah she didnt like Albedo being there, but the situation wasn't really the same. The difference there is that with Albedo, yes the situation was similar, but it Ben didn't just say, "Hey Albedo, even though you tried to kill me and take over my life and stuff I think we could be the best of friends, like brothers even! So, you wanna come live with me?"_

 _No it was awhile before Ben asked Albedo if he wanted to live with them. The immediate trust towards Sunny actually telling the truth just kind of kills it. She is a clone of Gwen created literally just for the sole purpose of killing Ben._

 _Who's to say Sunny didn't just go along with it and lie to get close to try to kill him,and make sure he says dead? I feel like that could fully happen. Anyways, overall I liked this arc in the story except for the last two chapters._

 _As i said, I think it was just rushed even if it was just to introduce Sunny and get a glimpse of Albedo going full man-wolf and what happens when he does. Either way, still one of my favorite BWEN stories, and I hope everything goes well with writing the last arc._

I'm glad that you enjoyed Omniverse. It took longer to finish than I thought it would have, but whatever. So I'm not sure where to start with this one, so I'll just say it. That story arc was rushed. I can understand that the whole ending of the previous arc seemed a bit outlandish, not just to you but to a majority of people.

Yes, there was a reason for Ben's death, but I can't talk about it. Once again, the story arc was rushed. The reason that Sunny all of a sudden dropped her flags and decided to go live with them is because I needed her for Volume Two. She appears in the very first arc of Volume Two, as a supporting character, FYI.

And I had written part of Volume Two already, just so I knew where this story would go. So, I had to get Sunny into the story somehow, because I didn't want her to just randomly appear without an origin story at the start of Volume Two.

I could imagine that some of my readers may want this to be undone and rewritten? But it's not going to happen, sorry. I had to get Sunny into Volume One somehow and I suppose that she got in at the last minute.

I spent a lot of time planning out how Volume One would end, as well as creating the story for Volume Two. And Sunny plays a big role in Volume Two, so I had to introduce her before Volume One's end. And the last story arc is the only place I could think of to introduce her. So, that's staying the way it is.

If I were to delete that story arc and try to introduce Sunny later on and expand Volume One, that would be months of planning down the drain. Besides, I'm so close to Volume One's end that I don't want to go back.

When you asked what if Sunny was just going along with this so she could kill Ben later and make sure that he stays dead? Well, it's not going to happen, because Sunny's turning good. Thanks for the feedback.

 _jasongd: And another great chapter congrats Sorry, I say it over and over but I just do not have anything better to say, this story is just great BWEN Forever_

Thanks for your feedback, jasongd. Hey man, if you don't have anything better to say, then that's fine. I won't ask you to say anything else. You could say the same exact thing for every review that you post on a chapter of mine, and I'll still appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

 _csgt: Good chapter! I don't think my theory is right, but I'll say it anyway: Max mentioned that the transformations without the Omnitrix put a strain on the body. I think Kevin might fall back into his old habits and try to take the Omnitrix off Ben so he can sustain his addiction._

 _I don't understand why Ben and Gwen were so shocked to learn that Albedo and Sunny are together XD It was pretty obvious that it would happen with Albedo being the one who convinced Sunny to join them, Sunny being the one who cured Albedo and Albedo's earlier lust for Gwen._

 _I think the person close to Ben that will learn his secret identity is Gwen's brother Ken._

Well for one, I can say with un-doubtful certainty that it was Ken. You were right. Your theory is a good one. For now, I will not confirm it or debunk it. I don't really understand myself why they're shocked that Albedo and Sunny are together and I'm the author! Lol, but anyway yes, they are together.

And there is a reason that they are together. And the reason has something to do with that the fact that Sunny _didn't_ cure Albedo. She just made him revert back to his human form. He still has the virus and it's still affecting him. I won't say anything else about that.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter.

 _Viper Command: Great chapter I'll be waiting to see how the solve this one._

Well, they'll solve it somehow. Thanks for the feedback.

Next Chapter: Ben tries to make amends with Ken after what happened. Savage Animo continues his attack in the city.


	75. Chapter 74: Blood Brothers: Part 3

Chapter 74: Blood Brothers: Part Three

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to Chapter Seventy Four, as well as the second to last chapter of Volume One!

* So this chapter will set up the situation for the next chapter, along with Ben making amends with Ken, too. I can't really say anything else, as I can't spoil anything to come. So with that being said, on with the chapter!

 _Ben_

 _The Next Morning_

I sat at the kitchen table the next morning, eating breakfast. Gwen had made scrambled eggs, while Albedo made bacon. I'll be honest; Albedo was pretty good at it. Then again, maybe I shouldn't give him credit. I mean, he has all my memories.

I was eating faster than I would have normally, but after breakfast I was leaving. I had to go to Ken's house to apologize to him, whether he wanted me to or not. I stood up from the table, my plate being completely cleaned off.

"Okay, I'm out of here." I said, as I quickly walked out of the kitchen.

Gwen was quick to get out of her seat and follow behind me.

"Hey, hold on a second!" she said. "Where are you going?"

"I need to go to your parents' house." I said. "I need to talk to Ken."

"He'll kill you." Albedo called from the kitchen.

"You think I don't know that? I don't doubt his ability to try to hurt me." I said. "However, I doubt _my ability_ to let him hurt me."

"What does that even mean?" Sunny asked.

I ignored her, as I turned to Gwen, as she spoke next.

"You were trying to make a Red Vs. Blue reference, weren't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure." I said, as I moved to the door.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Gwen asked.

"No." I said. "This is something I have to do on my own."

I opened the door and walked outside, closing it without another word. I walked up to my car, got in and closed it, as I put the key in. I turned the car on, put it into reverse and backed out of the driveway.

 _Ten Minutes Later_

I pulled up into Ken's driveway. I let out a sigh as I turned off my car. I opened my door, stepped out onto the driveway and closed it. I slowly walked over to the front door and stopped there. I eventually worked up the guts to knock on the door.

The door eventually opened and I saw Ken looking at me, before he realized it was me and attempted to slam the door. I put my foot out to stop the door from closing all the way.

"Ken wait, I-" I tried to speak, but I was interrupted.

"Get the hell out of here." He said. "I told you not to come here. Now leave!"

"Please Ken, just give me a second!" I said. "I have something that I need to tell you!"

"Get out of here!" Ken exclaimed once again.

"I didn't make a move on Gwen!" I exclaimed. "She made a move _on me_!"

There was silence on the other side of the door now. Ken opened the door all the way and looked at me.

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me." I said.

"I want to hear you say it." He said.

I let out a sigh.

"I didn't make a move on Gwen. She made a move on me." I said once more.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. He eventually sighed.

"Get in here." He said. "Now."

I said nothing as he moved out of the way so I could walk inside. Once I was inside, he shut the door and locked it behind us.

"Sit down." He said in an angry tone.

I walked over to one of the single person couches that they had in their living room and sat down. I watched as Ken walked across the living room and sat down on the couch across from me. I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.

"Talk. Tell me the story." He said. "Tell me the story of how you got that thing on your wrist and how you got there, to the point where you thought that it'd be okay to fuck my sister."

"I already told you that nothing has happened between Gwen and I." I said. "And she made the first move, not me."

"I don't care what you say. So she's a s-"

"If you finish that sentence, I'm going to knock your teeth out." I said, interrupting him.

Ken looked at me with anger.

"Just tell me the damn story." He said.

"Only if you be nice." I said.

"Fine." He said as he gritted his teeth with anger.

I stared at him, refusing to speak to him. He eventually got the memo and let out a sigh. He looked back up at me, the anger on his face gone.

"Fine." He said in a calm tone. "I'll be nice."

I thought about where to start. The wisest place to start would be where it all began. When Kai cheated on me.

"Do you remember my ex-girlfriend?" I asked.

"How could anyone forget Kai Green?" he asked. "You moped around about it for months. How does this tie into your story?"

"She could very well be the reason that I found this thing. The Omnitrix." I said. "I was depressed when I went on a walk on the evening of Thanksgiving Day. And when I went into the woods, I found a crash site, where this thing waited for me."

"What happened there?" Ken asked.

"It latched onto my wrist when I tried to touch it." I said. "And it releases a special energy that allows me to turn into twelve, originally ten different aliens. It also comes with a camouflage feature that allows it to disguise itself as an ordinary wrist watch."

"So, what? You just used it to play hero?" he asked.

"That isn't what originally happened, but yeah. Now I use it to fight crime in the city." I said.

"Not what originally happened?" he asked. "What do you mean?"

"Originally, I didn't know what to do with the thing. The first alien I transformed into was an alien I call Heatblast. He's an alien that can handle fire." I said. "My grades were rapidly slipping as I drifted into a depression in the wake of the break-up. Luckily, one of the aliens increased my intelligence and got me back on track."

"An alien that can control fire, is that right?" he asked. "What about the other eleven?"

"This isn't about the aliens. I'm here to get an apology out of you and to apologize myself for what I said yesterday." I said. "And also to tell you about how all of this began."

"Okay. But why do I have to apologize?" he asked. "I don't even want my sister to be with you! You should apologize to _me_!"

"Let's not even get back into that." I said. "You have to apologize to Gwen, not me, for all of the things you said and what you were thinking about saying about her. As the older brother, it's not right for you to bad mouth her. And I should apologize to you for the way I reacted to all of this. So, I'm sorry."

He just looked at me, not saying anything. After five seconds of silence from him, both of my eyebrows rose and I waved my hands at him, trying to get him to speak. Eventually, after say another five seconds, he spoke.

"I suppose that's fair." He said. "I'll apologize to Gwen later."

 _You'll apologize now, damn it!_

I didn't say it. I wasn't going to let the Omnitrix win this one. I now knew that the Omnitrix was sentient, so it could think for itself. The only thing was, it was difficult to determine which thoughts belonged to me and which thoughts belonged to the Omnitrix. Although, I was pretty sure that the Omnitrix was talking this time.

"Okay." I said in a calm tone.

"So, what did you originally use that thing for?" Ken asked.

"Originally, I didn't have a use for this thing." I said. "I would sneak out late at night from time to time, just to get a feel for what the Omnitrix could do. I didn't start really taking advantage of it until after I participated in an illegal fighting ring."

"An illegal fighting ring?" he asked. "What, like underground? Off the books? Where?"

"Kevin, J.T. and Cash ran an illegal underground fighting ring in the basement of Madison High School." I said. "I only participated a few times and got a decent amount of cash from it."

"Wait, Kevin ran this thing? Like, "our friend from school Kevin"?" he asked. "J.T. and Cash, too?"

I nodded.

"And you got paid for doing this? How much money did you get?" he asked. "And what did you do with it?"

"I gave the money back." I said. "I didn't want it. It was felt like I was stealing and it was all wrong to me."

"So, you just gave the money back?" he asked.

I nodded.

"And what happened to the fight club?" he asked. "Is Kevin still running it?"

I shook my head.

"No. In fact now that you mention it, Kevin's fight club has been closed and will not be opening again." I said. "He's been shut down."

"How did it get shut down?" he asked. "Do you have something to do with this?"

"I sent in an anonymous tip to the principal about some "illegal activities" going on in the basement of the school." I said. "The next day, I find out that his fight clubs had been shut down. They caught Kevin red handed."

"What do you mean an anonymous tip?" Ken asked.

"Do you seriously not know what an anonymous tip is?" I asked. "I wrote a letter to the principal, telling him that I had my suspicions about some "wrong-doings" going on in the school basement. Then, I signed it as an anonymous helper."

"Why didn't you sign your name?" he asked.

"Because I didn't want to be blamed for it." I said. "It doesn't matter, though. I think Kevin knows that I ratted them out. But he's never come forth and asked me about it."

"Where does the story go from here?" Ken asked. "I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't finding this to be interesting."

"Um, after that the semester finished with me acing the Chemistry Final with 97.5 percent. My teacher Mr. Fargas told me that he wanted me in his AP Chemistry class the following semester." I said. "And so, I took the opportunity. I saw Kevin later that day and I that's when I told him that I was done with the fight clubs."

"I thought you told me that his fight clubs got shut down?" he asked me.

"I guess I should have mentioned that they got shut down in the second semester." I said. "I sat on that all Christmas Break and felt guilty about not speaking up. So when I got back, I made a point to turn in my letter to the principal."

"Did anything interesting happen over Christmas Break?" Ken asked.

"Yeah. I had my first run in with a super villain." I said. "Well, more like four super villains. Zombozo the Energy Vampire and the Misfits."

"Zombozo the Energy Vampire and the Misfits?" Ken asked. "Who's that?"

"Zombozo is an Energy Vampire, who feeds off of a person's happiness. He got a hold of me while I was in my human form and absorbed my all of my happy memories with Kai. Today, I couldn't even tell you where we had our first date, or where we were when we first kissed." I said. "And the Misfits? There are three of them. One dude is super strong, the other dude breaths acidic breathe and the lady has long hair which she can control, to grab people or grab things with."

"Wow. What a winning combo." Ken said.

"Right?" I asked. "After that I felt hollow, depressed and bitter for the next few days. But it eventually wore off."

"What did you do after Christmas Break?" Ken asked. "What happened during second semester?"

"You know, nothing really interesting happened during and after second semester." I said. "I trained with the Omnitrix a little more and stopped a few petty crimes, nothing serious. But then, a few months after Christmas, I had my first run in with Doctor Animo."

"He's a biological terrorist, as Grandpa Max called him. He tried to detonate a bomb in Downtown Bellwood, which would de-evolutionize everything within the detonation's radius." I said. "Luckily I stopped him before he could actually detonate it, though."

"De-evolutionize?" Ken asked. "Biological terrorist? What does that mean?"

"Animo wants to eradicate all human life on Earth. And I know it sounds typical, but he has a way about going at it." I said. "He wants to de-evolutionize on the planet, reverting mankind back to it's primal, savage state. And just let the aftermath of former humans ripping each other to shreds."

"But you can't force evolution or de-evolution!" Ken said. "Because um, life uh, finds a way."

"Nice Jurassic Park reference." I said.

"Whatever." Ken said. "What comes next?"

"After that, the city was pretty quiet. And come May, Mom announces that she, Dad and your parents are heading to Vegas together for two weeks, while I stay home and catch up with your sister after the past we had." I said. "Or at least I thought that they'd be gone for two weeks. A few weeks later, I got the call and Dad told me that they were traveling the states all summer and they'd be back in August."

"Is this before you and my sister got together?" Ken asked.

"Yes." I said through gritted teeth. "And if you start now, I'm walking out of here."

"Fine." Ken said. "Continue."

"Once they left, we gamed for a while and then later that night, we ordered a pizza and watched Finding Nemo. The next day, we got into an argument about her obsession with Alien Guy, who was unbeknownst to her at the time, me." I said. "After the argument, I went to the clubhouse, just to work the bag and blow off some steam. During that time, Gwen left the house to take pictures of a burning apartment complex downtown."

"Who or what caused it?" Ken asked.

"Animo was back again. He lured me to him while I was in my Heatblast form, absorbing all of the fire, to the top floor where he froze me with some kind of suit and blaster. After giving me some kind of "after everything you'd done for them, eventually they will hate you" speech, he completely froze me over." I said.

"How'd you get out?" he asked.

"I somehow thawed myself out, but burned down the building in the process." I said. "The public hated me after that and the police had me branded as a menace. It's funny now that I think about it; I haven't even been shot at or threatened by police in the last month after that happened. Or maybe it hasn't been a month yet, I'm not sure."

"What came next?"

"After Gwen showed me the newspaper that night, I decided quitting for a while. I threw the Omnitrix into my closet and tried to forget about it." I said. "That is, until the next morning, when I woke up to find that it had reattached itself to my wrist. I'll mention now that the Omnitrix is a sentient being and it thinks for itself."

"It's sentient?" Ken asked. "As in it's alive?"

"Yes. And I can guarantee that if it wasn't sentient, I would not have done most of the things that I've done." I said. "Like, kissing Gwen for the first time. And I'll tell you now, that the Omnitrix pushed me to do that. It speaks to me; I hear it's thoughts in my head."

"So the reason that you and my sister are together, is because of that thing?" Ken asked. "And it speaks to you, it's like you two are one. Like Eddie Brock and the Venom Symbiote?"

I nodded.

"I've made that analogy several times." I said.

"Well, just take it off then." He said. "Throw it away if you just want to live a normal life without having to deal with all of this shit."

"I can't. This thing comes with a lot of responsibility." I said. "And I can't let it fall into the wrong hands."

"Just give it to that group." He said. "S.E.C.T., isn't that what they're called?"

"As much as I like Director Steel and the boys at S.E.C.T., I wouldn't trust them with the Omnitrix." I said. "I'd like to rest at night knowing that it's in the hands of a person who knows what they're doing with it."

"And what? You know what to do with it?" he asked.

I frowned at him in response to what he said.

"Sorry." He said as he chuckled.

"Anyway, after that day we decided to make amends for how mean we had been to each other." I said. "Not before I tried to destroy this thing, though."

"You tried to destroy it?" he asked.

"With a shovel. And it didn't work." I said. "It was like the Omnitrix had a shield around it. It deflected any hit I attempted to put on it."

"That's interesting."

"Isn't it though?" I asked. "After we made amends, we went out to a water park, The Riptide Rapids Zone, which is now closed thanks to an Alien Guy related conflict."

"What happened?"

"Well before anything bad happened, Gwen and I enjoyed ourselves at the park. I showed off a bit of my powers, without exposing myself by coming up with excuses on how I did it for myself." I said. "All of the aliens gave me a gift. Heatblast gave me an immunity to first degree burns or something like that. Ripjaws, a water creature alien, gave me an increased lung capacity, just a couple of examples."

"Gifts, huh?" he asked. "That's pretty interesting."

"You're telling me. After I showed off a little, we participated in some of the park's activities. We eventually came to the wave pool, where I slipped underwater for a bit to be with my thoughts. While I was down there, I began to notice how the Omnitrix could speak to me." I said. "Gwen slipped down to the bottom of the pool with me and for some reason I began to think about how beautiful she looked and how she looked like a princess. Without the Omnitrix, I wouldn't have thought like that."

Ken said nothing.

"Next, for some reason she wanted me to go through the tunnel of love with her. And so I did. Halfway through the ride, it malfunctioned and I made it look like I had been thrown off, just so I could use the Omnitrix without Gwen seeing me." I said. "I came back up as Ripjaws and scared the living daylights out of her. We had a conversation, while I kept my identity under wraps. After that, we got out of the tunnel of love while I carried her on my back and emerged to see that the park was being attacked. By Vilgax."

"Vilgax?" he asked.

I nodded.

"He's an intergalactic alien overlord that will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Omnitrix. Don't ask about his backstory. It's in no way related to the story that I'm telling you." I said.

"Okay. What did he do?" Ken asked. "What are his motives?"

"He goes around collecting various pieces of alien technology. At least I think he does." I said. "And after I made sure Gwen got to safety, I found him and after I switched alien forms, because Ripjaws is better suited to water combat."

"Which alien did you use to fight Vilgax?" Ken asked.

"An alien I call Diamondhead. He's made of some crystal-like solid and can use his arms to form talon-like sword things." I said. "I'm pretty sure that his gift was making my skin impenetrable to some degree."

"Interesting…" Ken said.

"Vilgax and I duked it out for a while, until he grabbed me by the throat and leapt up to the highest water slide in the park, carrying me the whole way." I said. "Up there, he threatened me to stay away from him and out of his business; otherwise he would kill everyone I love and then me."

Ken just looked at me without a word.

"After that, he threw me across the park, to the swimming pools, where I sank the bottom of one of the pools before reverting back to my human form." I said. "I swam back to the surface and rolled over onto my back, before noticing that there was red electricity sparking from the Omnitrix. This is how Ghostfreak would free himself."

"Ghostfreak?" Ken asked. "Who's Ghostfreak?"

"He's the alien that ordered your abduction that night, along with the rest of my friends and family." I said. "Which I'll get to that night eventually."

"What came next?" he asked.

"Gwen found me after that and after I recovered a little, we went back home. When we got back the Omnitrix began speaking to me, convincing me that I was falling in love with Gwen. Just remember that this is how that began." I said. "Don't ask me why, but it pushed me to try to impress her with my abs. When that failed, I brushed my lips against hers. We didn't kiss; she pulled away before it could amount to anything."

He looked at me with an angry look.

"Anyway, moving on." I said.

"Well, we're obviously going to be here for a while." Ken said, as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back into the couch. "I might as well get comfortable."

 _Forty Five Minutes Later_

"So, Kevin is dying?" Ken asked. "Supposedly, the Omnitrix's energy is killing him?"

"No, not supposedly." I said. "Grandpa Max told us himself. Okay, look. When I transform with the Omnitrix, my human DNA rips apart and reforms, taking the form of the DNA of the specific alien that I choose. Without the recharging rate that the Omnitrix has, this puts an enormous strain upon the human body."

"So? What are you trying to tell me?" he asked.

"Kevin does not have the Omnitrix, so the transformations are going to take a toll on his body. And Grandpa is convinced that Kevin is addicted to the energy that the Omnitrix gives off." I said. "The addiction, although it's more the excessive amounts of transformations, is killing him."

"So, he's going to die?" he asked.

"Unless he quits using his powers, yes. Although that's not his main power. He can absorb many different types of matter and become that state of matter, while retaining his human form. So he can use that power." I said. "I'm sure that once he quits using his power, once he's out of danger, I'm sure that Grandpa Max and I can craft a device that will allow him to transform again, but he can only be alien for a limited amount of time."

"And you think that it would work?" he asked.

"What did I just say?" I asked. "Yes, I think it will work. He won't die. I won't let it happen."

"Uh-huh, sure." He said. "Whatever."

"What, do you not have faith in me?" I asked.

"I never said that." He said. "But after finding out that you and my sister are dating, I just don't know anymore."

I just looked at him as he got up and picked up the T.V. remote off of the coffee table. He turned on the T.V. and began to flip through the channels.

"So, are we good now?" I asked.

He ignored me as he stopped flipping through the channels, stopping on the news channel. The broadcast depicted Savage Animo still attacking the downtown portion of Bellwood.

 _He's still attacking the city?_

"Well, there's something that you can turn your attention to." He said. "You should probably go."

"Dude, I just asked you a question." I said.

"I know." He said, as he continued looking at the T.V.

"So are we?" I asked, as I stood up from the single person couch.

He turned to look at me, with a look of confusion.

"Are we what?" he asked.

I looked at him with utter confusion, as if he were telling me that he had forgot what I just asked him.

"Are we good now?" I asked him. "Like, are you and I okay now?"

He looked at me without speaking.

"I don't know." He said at last.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I asked.

"Ben, you're dating my sister. And I don't like it!" he said, as he got up. "I want to punch you every time I look at you! But I don't! Because it's not right for me to."

"Are you and I ever going to be good again?" I asked.

"I don't know. If we will ever be good again, it's going to take a while for me to want to hang out with you again." He said as I walked towards the door.

I looked at him as I opened the door.

"Look, I accept your apology and I'll apologize to Gwen." He said. "I admit it. I had a freak out."

"Yes, you did." I said, as I walked outside.

"I suppose that I can't stop you from continuing to date my sister. As much as I'd like to force one of you to break up with the other, I won't. Because it won't help anyone if I did that." I said. "So date my sister if you're going to. J-J-Just keep your hands to yourself."

I didn't turn back to look at him as I left the house.

 _Fifteen Minutes Later_

When I got back home, I walked into the house to tell the three about the situation downtown.

"So, Animo is attacking Downtown Bellwood. I think we should all suit up and go see what we can do. He's still in his "Savage Animo" form, so this may be difficult." I said.

"We don't even have costumes Ben." Albedo said.

"Sure you don't, but Gwen and I do. It just sounded - Fuck it, you know what I mean." I said.

"Whatever." Albedo said.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. I let out a sigh of annoyance, before I walked to the door. I opened it and out on the patio, stood Kevin.

"I heard about the situation Downtown." He said. "Are you guys doing something about it?"

"Yes." I replied.

"I want to go with you guys." Kevin said.

"No." I said.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't want you out there. It's just another opportunity that you could get yourself hurt." I said.

"But I can use my matter absorbing abilities!" Kevin said.

"No. That's my final answer." I said.

"But why?" he asked. "I can prove that I can be a valuable asset to you!"

"Ben, what's the worst that could happen?" Gwen asked.

I turned to look at her.

"Don't get me started on that. He's not coming and that's final." I said, before turning back to Kevin. "Go home Kevin. We'll find you when there is a less threatening situation."

"You just don't trust me!" he said. "If you don't let me help in a dangerous situation, I'll never reach that level!"

"That's not true." I said.

"Yes, it is!" he exclaimed.

"You know what, Ben?" Gwen asked. "He's right. He needs to prove himself to you. He won't be using his ability to transform; he'll just use his energy sponge abilities. Like, if he absorbs concrete, then he should be invulnerable to almost any threat."

I turned to look at her.

"Don't tell me that you're supporting him?" I asked.

She just smiled.

"This is insane!" I said. "My own girlfriend wants to put my friend, who is dying by the way, into a dangerous situation that could get him killed! Perfect."

"We could all die." Sunny said. "What's your point?"

I ignored her.

"So am I coming or not?" Kevin asked.

I turned to look at him and then back at Gwen, before looking down at the floor and sighing.

"Fine." I said, looking at Kevin. "But you are to be in my sight at all times."

"I don't need a babysitter, Ben." Kevin said.

I ignored what he said.

"Alright, I need to go suit up." I said. "Then we'll leave."

 _Thirty Minutes Later_

I ran across a rooftop, with my team behind me. Gwen used her gauntlets to travel from rooftop to rooftop, while Kevin rode on Albedo's back, as Albedo was currently in his Dark Stinkfly form.

And don't know how Sunny was traveling, though. She wasn't riding on Albedo's back. She didn't have wrist gauntlets like Gwen and I did. But nevertheless, we were there. And Savage Animo was just absolutely destroying everything. I noticed that the inhibitor chip or whatever it was that was in the back of his neck was sparking.

So, I think he couldn't control himself again. Out of nowhere, he grabbed an air conditioning unit and ripped it from the roof. Without breaking a sweat, he threw it to the ground below, crushing a few cars underneath it.

I watched as one of the cars caught fire. And I saw the civilians in the vicinity.

 _Those civilians could get hurt!_

I looked at Albedo, who was just landing.

"Albedo, get down to the ground and get any civilians in the area away from that car!" I said, pointing at him. "It could blow up."

"Sure thing!" he said, as he dropped Kevin off next to me, before flying off to where I told him to go.

"Sunny, you-" I began to speak to Sunny, when she cut me off.

"Shut it, Boy Scout!" she said. "I don't take orders from you!"

She then out of nowhere ran towards the end of the roof, leapt off and threw a long rope with a grapple hook that I didn't even knew she had. She swung to the ground with the rope and jumped off once she could fall safely.

"Well, that was interesting." I said.

"What about me?" Kevin asked.

I turned to look at him.

"You go down there and help them liberate any of the civilians." I said.

"What?! But that's not fair!" he said.

"Yes it is." I said. "You're in danger because of an addiction and you want to help, without using that other power. So you will help. But use your energy sponge abilities. Absorb concrete or something to protect yourself."

"Oh, right." He said. "Duh."

He bent down and put his hand on the floor of the roof, which was made of concrete. And just like that, his entire body skin color, as well as his clothes slowly changed to match the color of the concrete.

He then jumped off the roof and to the ground below, taking no damage because of his concrete form. Lucky Girl looked at me.

"And what are you and I supposed to do?" she asked.

"Try to take down Animo." I said. "What else?"

I ran towards Animo, where he was pounding a building's brick wall a few rooftops away.

"Right." She said. "I really shouldn't have come in to work today."

With that, she began to follow me. I ran close to Animo and tried something rather risky.

"Hey, Animo!" I called. "Are you in there?!"

Savage Animo turned to face me, his eyes pulsing green. He let out a roar of fury as he ripped a chunk of the brick wall out and threw it at me. I ran out of the way and grabbed Lucky Girl, sending her down to the floor of the roof with me.

The chunk of brick wall flew over us and landed on an adjacent rooftop. Once we got up, Lucky Girl began to brush herself off, giving me a look of irritation as she did.

"Got any more bright ideas?" she asked.

"I got a few. Yeah!" I said.

I dialed up the Omnitrix and transformed into Fourarms. I charged towards Savage Animo and got ready to try to hit him. Savage Animo surprised me by hitting me and sending me flying. I flew back across to the rooftop that I had previously been on.

I quickly pushed myself back up and ran back into the fray, to see Lucky Girl running across hot pink platforms that were generating on air. She eventually ran off of the platforms and went to try to ninja kick Savage Albedo.

To my surprise and dismay, Savage Animo successfully caught her in his grip, by one of her legs. I began to freak out, as it looked like he was about to throw her. And he did. He threw her across the rooftops and she began to scream with worry. I immediately leapt into the air and managed to catch her with one set of my arms.

Once I had, she looked at me with relief.

"You caught me!" she said with a smile on her face.

"Of course I did." I said, as we came back down to the rooftop. "I'd never let anything happen to you."

Once we landed, I put her back down. From where Savage Animo stood, he just went back to beating the brick wall of the adjacent building.

"What are we supposed to do?" Lucky Girl asked me.

"I'm not sure." I said. "Animo is in his savage form; he can't control himself."

"So, what does that mean for us?" she asked.

"Uh, I don't know." I said.

"Well, what do you mean "you don't know"?" she asked. "You've got to have a plan of some sort!"

"Not really, no." I said.

"Some leader you are." She said.

I scoffed.

"For my girlfriend, I thought that you'd be more supportive." I said.

She laughed, as I backed up a little.

"Wait, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Getting the big guy's attention." I said, before running forward and leaping into the air.

Once I got close to Savage Animo, I wrapped a set of my arms around his neck, taking him down to the floor of the roof.

"Okay Animo, let's see if we can't calm you down! What happened, did someone hurt you?" I asked. "Did you try filing a complaint? Did you try calling customer support? How about tech support? How about-"

Before I could finish speaking, Savage Animo roared with anger, grabbing me from his back and ripping me off of him. He had me grabbed by the foot and began smashing me into two parts of the rooftop floor, alternating between the two spots.

But then, he did something that surprised me. He just dropped me. And after he dropped me, he began to roar once more. But this time, he wasn't roaring with fury, he was roaring with pain, as if he were agonized. I looked up at him, to see that his entire body was twitching.

And then, it happened. For one, began to grow taller. At least by a foot, he was taller now. And keep in mind that beforehand, he was easily at least eight or nine feet tall. His muscular physique increased greatly as well.

Next, his talons grew a few inches longer. I began to hear what sounded like skin ripping apart and I had no idea where it was coming from, until Savage Animo bent over a little. That's when I saw that his spinal cord was ripping from his back, leaving a jagged-edged bone structure running down his back, kind of similar to what monsters like Godzilla had down their backs.

And you may find it surprising, but the next part is what scared me the most. Two horns began to grow out of his forehead and stopped once they were easily two feet long.

 _Oh, man. The serum that Grandpa Max told me that Animo took in his youth, it must be mutating his DNA structure even further!_

Next he began to beat his chest as he roared with fury, but because of his talons, he cut up his chest quite a bit.

 _It was at this moment that Ben Tennyson knew, he had fucked up._

I just looked up at the newly evolved Savage Animo; even in my Fourarms form I was scared out of my mind.

"I am so scared; I can't even finish my lame joke." I said.

Savage Animo wasted no time in grabbing me and lifted me up and over his head.

"Hey, hey, hey! Let's not get any big ideas!" I exclaimed, as I flailed both sets of my arms. "Put me down!"

Animo let out a roar of fury, before throwing me across the street, where I broke through the wall of a neighboring building. I crashed through several desks and cubicles. I pushed myself back up once I had recovered and looked at all of the frightened employees that looked at me.

"Everyone okay?" I asked.

They all screamed with fear, before running away from me and towards an emergency exit no doubt.

"Okay, then." I said, as I got up. "Good talk."

I ran back to the hole in the wall that I had come from and looked out to the outside, to see that Savage Animo was leaping up to another rooftop.

"Guess he found a new target." I said, as I dropped down the streets. "What is he doing anyway? Does he even have a motive?"

Once I was down on street level, Albedo was waiting for me.

"What happened to Animo?" he asked.

"I don't know, I guess the serum he took mutated his DNA even further." I said.

"Is there anything we can do?" Kevin asked, as he ran up to me.

"At this moment, no there is not." I said, as I looked at him. "And don't you get any big ideas!"

He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Sir." He said.

I rolled my eyes in return.

"Actually, there is something you can do." I said. "Get up to the office building he busted me into and make sure all of the survivors get to safety."

"I'm on it." Sunny said, as she ran past me, throwing her grappling line up to the hole in the wall.

"You know, we're a pretty good team." Kevin remarked.

"Aren't we, though?" I asked. "Play your cards right and this could become a regular thing. That is, if you want it to be."

"Of course I want this to be a regular thing." Kevin said.

"Look, it's not that I don't like making small talk, but shouldn't we do something?" Albedo asked.

"Good point, let me think about what I can do." I said, as I put one of my hands on my chin.

Then, an idea popped into my head.

 _Animo was attacking the building with is back to us, so he wasn't vulnerable to attacks from the front. Maybe I could change that? Only problem is that no matter how you attack him, he heals almost instantly. So what can we do?_

"Albedo, how is your connection with the Dark Omnitrix?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Like, can you switch between forms at will?" I asked.

"Um yeah, I can." He said. "Why?"

"Let's try mixing Stinkfly's stink balls with Heatblast's fireballs." I said. "I think the goop that Stinkfly fires is flammable."

"Okay." Albedo said. "Here goes nothing."

"Wait until I get him to turn around, I want you to have a shot at hitting his front." I said, as Albedo dialed up the Dark Omnitrix.

"Well, here goes nothing." I said, repeating what Albedo had just said.

I leapt up towards the building, heading towards Savage Animo, wanting to get my arms around his neck so that I could turn him around. Somehow, I don't know how, he must have heard me, because he quickly whipped around and swatted me away from him.

"Now, Albedo!" I exclaimed as I fell back down to the streets.

Albedo flew up to Savage Animo as Dark Stinkfly and began pelting him with Stinkfly goop. I then saw a green flash and he was now in his Dark Heatblast form, gliding through the sky on a trail of fire, which was black, not orange.

He began throwing black fireballs at Savage Animo, which ignited the goop and caused it to explode.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed as I got up from the demolished car that I handed on.

I was excited at the prospect that we defeated him. No such luck. Eventually, the fire winked out, revealing several burn spots and missing parts of skin on Savage Animo. Unsurprisingly, he let out a roar of anger as he began to quickly heal from his wounds.

I let out a sigh irritation as I got back up. Animo leapt down to another building, which wasn't nearly as tall as the other ones. And then he bent over, opened his mouth and I kid you not, he began to breath fire down onto the street!

I saw Lucky Girl quickly jump down from the building, running down to the streets, using mana-based platforms that she created to walk on. Once she was down on the ground, she lifted her hands towards the fire that Animo was breathing, which generated a mana shield, blocking the flames from reaching the streets any further.

"He breathes fire now. Seriously?!" I asked with shock and anger.

Eventually, he stopped breathing fire and went to grabbing the utilities and ripping them off of the roof, throwing them into the street. The hot pink glow faded from Lucky Girl's hands, and she began to tip backwards, falling over most likely from the exhaustion of generation a shield so big.

Albedo, now back on the ground and in his human form, ran to catch her before she could touch the ground.

"Thank you." She said in a weak voice to him.

"It's no problem." Albedo said, as he looked at me. "What do we do now, Ben?"

"I'm going to go try to get his attention again." I said, before I leapt up into the air towards the building that Savage Animo was on.

I managed to get my hands around his neck this time and began attempt choking him out.

 _Kevin_

I watched as Ben attempted to choke out Animo, but to no avail. This wasn't working. I had to do something. But the only thing I couldn't do was transform. But I had to do it; otherwise we may not win this one.

I had to get up to the rooftop where Ben and Animo were at. I turned to Albedo, as he helped Gwen up.

"Albedo, throw me up there." I said.

"Excuse me?" he asked, as he turned to face me.

"Throw me up there!" I exclaimed.

"Why?" he asked.

"I know how we can defeat Animo!" I said.

"Well why didn't you say so?" he asked, as he activated his Omnitrix.

He transformed into a darker version of Fourarms and picked me up with ease.

"Happy trails!" he said, as he threw me up to the roof.

 _Ben_

Animo finally got me off of his back and sent me down to the floor of the roof. Once I recovered, I saw that Kevin was standing on the roof, no less than a few feet from us.

"Kevin? What are you doing?" I asked.

"Ben, I know how we can win!" he said.

I watched as he closed his eyes, looking like he was trying to concentrate.

"Kevin, don't!" I said, as I stuck my hand out towards him, but to no avail.

"Kevin is gone." Kevin spoke, as I noticed him begin to mutate.

I watched as he began to grow as tall as Savage Animo, while his body changed. I began to see the physiques, colors and body parts that I had never seen before. Once he was done changing, the only thing that remained was a monstrosity that was even worse than his last form.

"There is only Kevin 11,000!" he exclaimed.

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the second to last chapter! What did you guys think?

* What did you think of the conversation between Ben and Ken? I would have put Ben's entire story so far in there, but I didn't have room for it. I'm sure you guys will forgive me about that.

* What do you think of Savage Animo's final evolved form? And finally, what do you think of the form that Kevin took at the end of this chapter? He obviously was inspired by the old Ben 10 episode "Kevin 11,000". His form is not the exact form seen in the episode, however. It'll be different and in the author's note in the next chapter, I'll list a few of the aliens that this mutation is made up of.

* Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter and please do favorite and follow this story if you guys are hyped for the last chapter! I'm going to go though, so have a great day and, bye.

 _ **Review Responses**_

 _jasongd: And another great chapter congrats BWEN Forever_

Glad to see you're still enjoying the story so far.

Next Chapter: Kevin battles the newly evolved Savage Animo while in his new Kevin 11,000 form, with the help of Ben's team. Kevin must face the consequences of transforming again.


	76. Chapter 75: Blood Brothers: Part 4

Chapter 75: Blood Brothers: Part Four

 _ **I Don't Own Ben 10 Or Any Of The Characters**_

 _Author's Note:_

* Hello and welcome to the final chapter! Yes, this is it! Once this chapter is done, Volume One is over! Also, the outcome of the story will impact Ben's character tone for the first arc of Volume Two.

* So this chapter will begin with the last flashback of Sunny and Albedo. I won't really say anything more about that.

* So it's going to be a while before Volume Two starts. Maybe a week or two to be precise. So that's why I'm excited to announce that to keep you guys tided over until Volume Two starts, I will be releasing the first chapter of the Gwen 10 spin-off story tomorrow! So I hope you guys enjoy that!

* So, without anything else to be said, here's the final chapter!

 _Albedo_

 _A Couple Days Ago_

I woke up the next morning, feeling something pressed up against me. It was only when I lifted my head up a little that I saw what it was and I remembered the events of the night before. Sunny was snuggled up against me, resting her head on my bare chest. Oh and she was completely naked, as was I.

I remembered everything that happened last night. After making out for quite a while, we went at it for at least a couple hours. I heard her let out a sigh, as she moved up closer to me, scaring me in the process. I noticed that her eyes were open, as she pulled me into a kiss.

I wrapped my arms around her and flipped us over. Her eyes widened, before she quickly closed them and began to kiss me back passionately. We kissed for at least half a minute, before I parted from her and looked down at her, she giving me a lovely gaze.

"I take it you enjoyed last night?" she asked, as she gently put her hand on my cheek.

I nodded, as I lowered myself onto her so that our chests touched.

"I want to go again." I said, as I kissed her once more.

She put her hands on my neck and kissed me back, before slipping her tongue through my lips. Eventually she pulled away, giving me a sad look.

"Not right now." She said. "Ben and Gwen are going to be getting up soon and they might hear us."

"What's the point?" I asked. "Ben knows that I liked Gwen when I came into existence, but I got over that and now here you are. And you're single…"

She just smiled up at me, as her hand trailed down my face and towards my neck. Her hand then went to my chest and continuing trailing down my stomach, until…

"Eep!" I let out a gasp of shock, as I felt her hand around my… how you say…

She laughed, as she began to rub me without a second thought. I bit my lip to keep from moaning. It was to no avail. A little towards the end, I did let out a low moan. Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Sunny, I-I'm going to-"

A devilish smile appeared on her face, as she interrupted me.

"No you're not." she said, as she let go of me.

I looked at her in shock, before she kicked me off of her. I fell off of the pull out mattress and onto the floor, as I looked at her with anger. She just smiled back at me.

"Why did you do that?!" I asked with surprise. "What was the point of jerking me off, all of that build up and then you don't let me, you know?"

She got up from the pull out mattress, exposing her completely naked body to me. She walked over to me, grabbed my chin and forced me to stand up. She pulled me deep into a kiss and I wasted no time in kissing her back.

Once she pulled away from me, she just winked at me.

"Sneak peek for later." She said, as she hugged herself against me.

"Albedo! Breakfast is ready!" I heard Ben call down the stairs.

I began to freak out, as Sunny and I parted. I was visibly freaked by the sound of Ben's voice, while Sunny was fine.

"What?" she whispered to me.

"Put your clothes on!" I whispered back. "What if one of them comes down here and sees us like this?"

"Don't worry, they won't." she said, not even making an attempt at getting dressed. "You go on ahead of me. I'll be up soon."

I quickly grabbed my torn pants and tried to put them on, falling over in the process. Sunny began laughing at my attempts to quickly get dressed. I looked up at her with anger once again, as I stood up. That's when a thought crossed my mind.

"Was this a one night stand, Sunny?" I asked. "Please tell me it was more than that! I don't want to be the third wheel anymore!"

Sunny surprised me by grabbing me and pressing herself up against me, as she pulled me into a kiss. She wrapped her arms around me and once again slipped her tongue through my lips. Eventually, she pulled away and left me with a smile on her face.

"You are not a third wheel, Albedo. Far from it, actually." She said. "You are a beautiful creature, Albedo."

I smiled.

"Not as beautiful as you." I said to her.

A light pink blush appeared on her cheeks for a few seconds.

"Go!" she said, pointing towards the stairs.

I turned around and walked towards the stairs, as I reached to button my jeans, before realizing that the button was gone after last night.

 _Perfect,_ I thought as I rolled my eyes.

I began to walk up the stairs, as I called up the stairs.

"Hey Ben, I only have the torn jeans from last night!" I called up. "Can I borrow some clothes from you?"

"Albedo I swear to God, if I have to give you anymore clothes, I'm going to…"

 _Present Day_

I stared up at the rooftop with shock. Kevin had mutated again. But he was nothing like his previous form. This time, he was nothing short of a monster! His entire body was composed of the colors and body parts of aliens, many of which I had never seen before!

"What did he do to himself?" Sunny asked, running over to me.

"Something he shouldn't have." I said. "Jesus, this is bad."

Lucky Girl suddenly ran forward and grappled up to the rooftop.

"Where are you going?!" I called after her, getting no answer.

"We're all in this together." Sunny said, as she ran forward and threw her grapple line up to the roof.

"Oh, great! Thanks for telling me!" I said as I ran forward, activating the Dark Omnitrix.

 _Ben_

I watched as Kevin, in his new mutated form, began to engage Savage Animo. I couldn't believe it. He had disobeyed my orders.

 _After everything I had promised him, he still disobeyed me!_

I eventually got over my trance and realized that I had to help him fight Savage Animo. I ran forward and began to pummel him in a spot that Kevin didn't have covered.

"You disobeyed me!" I yelled at him.

"Fight now, talk later!" Kevin exclaimed, as Animo swatted me away with ease.

"Right!" I said, as I got back up.

Kevin wasted no time in testing his new abilities. He didn't even try to mess with aliens that he had already used. All of a sudden, he grew a second head out of nowhere, which was pale skinned and had spikes on the top and bottom of his head.

This head began to expand and his lips puffed up, until he opened his mouth and released some kind of pale green colored slime all over Savage Animo. I hadn't realized that the stuff was acidic, because it began to burn through his skin.

Savage Animo began to scream with rage and agony, as some of the liquid dripped down onto the concrete floor of the rooftop. Of course, the liquid began to burn through the concrete.

"Kevin, be more careful!" I scolded. "That'll burn right through the roof if you keep doing it!"

He ignored my complaint. Once all of the liquid was gone, it didn't surprise me that Savage Animo just regenerated all of the skin that had been burnt off.

"Can nothing stop this dude?" I asked myself.

"Hold that thought." Kevin said.

Next, Kevin grew an extra set of arms, so that he had had six of them. The lowest set of arms were black and had dark orange spots running down the tops of his arms. He lifted up his hands and I kid you not, electricity was generated, electrocuting Savage Animo!

"Cool! I want to do that!" I exclaimed.

"I thought you were mad at me?" Kevin asked.

"Oh I am, don't get me wrong!" I exclaimed. "I am going to chew the fuck out of you once this is over!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep on yammering." Kevin said.

The electricity didn't even faze Savage Animo. If anything, it just pissed him off even more.

"Anymore bright ideas?" I asked Kevin.

Once again, he ignored me. Kevin's second head began to change, losing it's size, getting a bit longer and gained a pair of ears, until he looked like he had a wolf's head. The wolf's mouth opened, which surprised me. It's not that it opened that surprised me, it's _how_ it opened.

The wolf's mouth split apart and opened in four directions. Then, the wolf let out an ear-splitting howl. Even in my Fourarms form, it hurt my ears. I had noticed a while ago that Lucky Girl, Albedo and Sunny were now up on the roof with us and they were holding their ears. The howl however, did not affect Savage Animo.

The wolf's mouth closed after that. Sunny ran up to Savage Animo from behind, took out her Twin Sais and stabbed them into his ankles. He let out a roar of fury from that, as Sunny took one Sai out and stabbed it higher up his leg. She kept alternating between both Sais, until she was up behind his neck.

She lifted up her Sais, letting them hover just above either sides of his head. It didn't take long for me to realize what she was doing.

"No killing!" I exclaimed.

"Watch me!" she shouted back.

She stabbed her Sais into either sides of Savage Animo's head and he let out a roar of agony. He kept roaring, before he fell over onto the floor of the roof, bringing Sunny down with him.

"Was all of that really necessary?" I asked her, as she stood up and pulled both of her Sais out of Savage Animo's head.

"Oh, shut up. He's down isn't he?" she asked me, walking towards me.

Coming as not much of a surprise at this point, I saw Savage Animo begin to move behind Sunny.

"Sure he's down, but he's not dead!" I exclaimed.

Before Sunny could turn around, Savage Animo had his hand around her ankle. He brought her down quickly, smashing her head into the concrete.

"Ow!" she exclaimed with pain.

Then, Savage Animo stood back up and threw her up into the sky. It was really an impressive throw to say the least, being at least twenty five or thirty feet in the air.

"Sunny!" Albedo exclaimed with worry. "No!"

He immediately dialed up the Dark Omnitrix and turned into Dark Fourarms. He then leapt up into the air after her, in an effort to catch her. I turned back to Kevin and snorted.

"Just friends, my ass." I said. "Only a worried boyfriend would react to that in that way."

"They are teammates, so maybe it's that." He said.

"Shut up." I said. "What else can that thing dish out?"

"Let's find out." Kevin said.

The wolf head changed, losing the snout and until it was smaller. This head was plum and green. The head turned, opened it's mouth and a few tongues flew out, snatched up a brick and pulled it in.

"How's that supposed to help?!" I asked with confusion.

Kevin ignored me and a few seconds later, the green head's mouth opened once again, but this time a green ball of energy flew out, which exploded upon impacting Animo.

"Can we not use burning and exploding aliens?!" I asked.

"Sorry!" Kevin said with anger.

Just then, Albedo came back down in his Dark Fourarms form, with Sunny in his arms, who had her arms wrapped around his neck.

"See? They're so lovey-dovey!" I said.

"You're overlooking it." Lucky Girl said, as she charged into battle next.

"Lucky Girl! Don't!" I exclaimed.

She ignored me as Kevin did.

 _God, does no one follow my orders on this team?_

Lucky Girl ran up to Savage Animo's head level, by way of the Mana platforms that she could create. She was about to start hitting him, when she was swatted away. I leapt up and caught her in a heartbeat. Once we reached the rooftop floor again, I began to leap away towards another rooftop, at least a few rooftops away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you taking me?" she asked me. "I need to help!"

"No! You're done!" I said. "I'm getting you to safety! If you keep trying to do what you do, you'll get hurt or worse! And I wouldn't be able to forgive myself!"

Once we landed on the target rooftop, I put her down.

"There, now stay-"

Before I could finish my sentence, she got up and ran off.

"Put." I said, as she leapt off of the roof and began to grapple back towards the roof where Savage Animo was at. "Hey, get back here! What did I just get done telling you?!"

"I need to help, Alien Guy!" she said, using my super hero name. "That's how teams work! You have to build trust and you have to help each other out!"

"Go back to the other rooftop!" I said. "Go be safe! Besides, what can you do that we-"

Once we landed back where Savage Animo was at, I noticed that her eyes began to glow. Next, her hands began to glow. After that, she lifted up her hands and literally started to throw beams of hot pink light at Savage Animo, which exploded upon impact.

"Can't?" I finished my sentence.

 _Huh, kind of like Starbolts._

That actually fazed Savage Animo quite a bit; it was as it blinded him!

"Nice idea, Gwen!" Kevin said. "Keep doing that!"

"Don't say her name!" I exclaimed, as I landed back by his side. "We use our superhero names!"

"Well, why don't Sunny and Albedo have superhero names?" he asked.

"Well that's because Albedo and Sunny don't really exist."

"Hey!" they both said in unison, with anger.

"Well, you don't!" I exclaimed. "There's no record that you guys exist!"

"Oh, I thought you meant that we weren't real." Albedo said.

"Idiot." Sunny said to him.

As Lucky Girl continued throwing Gwen Bolts at him, Kevin tried to see what else his new form could dish out.

 _Yes, I'm seriously thinking about calling her "Starbolt" like energy fire Gwen Bolts. Jeez, next you're going to tell me that she can fly like Starfire, too._

I witnessed one of Kevin's heads change again, until it was just an eye. No, a literal fucking eyeball. I'm being serious here! And I kid you not when I say that he fired a beam of fire at Savage Animo from his eye!

Lucky Girl stopped throwing Gwen Bolts at Savage Animo. He quickly recovered from his blindness and began attacking us again. Sunny and Albedo held off his attacks, while Kevin tried something else. Kevin grew a new set of arms, these ones being light brown and highly muscular.

He ran over to Savage Animo and along with his other arms, used his new arms to pick Savage Animo and lift him up over his head! He then jumped up into the air and it looked like he was going to try to throw Animo.

"Don't throw him into the street!" I exclaimed.

"I'm not going to!" Kevin said, as he threw Animo down towards an abandoned building.

Savage Animo crashed through the roof and landed into the floor below. All of us followed, as Kevin began duking it out with Savage Animo once more. I was the first to drop down into the wreckage, holding Gwen in my arms.

"Dude, you need to look before you throw!" I said, as I put Gwen down.

"Um, duh! Why do you think I picked an abandoned theater?" he asked. "I knew that it'd be safe to fight Animo because there's no one around!"

I thought about it.

 _He has a point. But still, I'm unhappy about this whole thing._

Kevin began to once again, attempt to dish out whatever he could throw at Savage Animo with is new mutated form. He grew a third head this time, which was dark blue and black. His mouth opened and it let out a jet stream of cold, winter air, which froze one of Savage Animo's legs.

Albedo ran over to Savage Animo and wasted no time in beginning to smash his frozen leg, until it shattered. Keep in mind that when I say shattered, that I mean his leg completely shattered! Savage Animo was now missing a whole leg!

Savage Animo began to roar with fury, as well as agony, as he fell over. He continued to roar, as we all looked at each other.

"Um, mission accomplished?" Albedo asked.

"Uh, guys?" Kevin asked. "Heads up!"

We all looked back at Savage Animo lying on the ground and noticed that slowly but surely, that his leg was growing back. I turned and looked at Albedo with anger.

"Mission accomplished?!" I asked with anger in my voice. "Did your mother ever teach you to shut your fucking mouth?!"

"Well, considering that fact that my-"

"Everyone shut up and fight!" Kevin exclaimed, interrupting us both.

We all took fighting stances as Savage Animo got back up. I looked at Kevin.

"Well, what else do you got?" I asked.

"Hold on." He said.

One set of his arms changed into a skinny black set of arms, with pink hands. I was about to question what that one did, when Kevin beat me to it. He began to form and throw sharp, pink crystals at Savage Animo, which embedded themselves into the skin of his chest.

"Say hello to my little friend!" Kevin exclaimed, as he kept throwing.

 _Huh, that kind of reminds me of Diamondhead._

"Nice Scarface reference, dude." Albedo said to Kevin.

"Thanks." Kevin said.

After he spoke, he began to change again. This time, a set of his arms changed into skinny, blue, hairy arms. He lifted up his arms and pointed his hands at Savage Animo, and literally began spraying him with webbing.

But of course, even with him tied up now, that didn't stop Savage Animo. Kevin changed again. This time, one set of his arms changed into skinny, red arms. He pointed these hands at Savage Animo and sprayed him with water.

"What good does that do?!" I exclaimed.

He just shrugged.

"I don't know." He said. "Damn it! This guy takes everything that I keep dishing out!"

"It's like that we need to put him to sleep for him to be defeated!" Lucky Girl chimed in.

"Yeah, but we don't have a way to put him to sleep!" I said.

That's when Kevin perked up.

"Yes we do!" he said in an excited tone.

He turned to look at me and I returned his gaze with confusion. Before I could speak, he interrupted me.

"Gwen, Albedo, Sunny, follow me!" he said, as he turned around. "Get his attention Ben and then follow us. Make sure he follows you!"

"Use the superhero names!" I said to him with irritation.

Kevin leapt out of the ruins of the abandoned theater and they all followed him, Lucky Girl shrugging at me before she grappled after them. For some reason once they were gone, Savage Animo didn't attack me right away. He just began looking around, as he growled with rage, no doubt looking for something to smash.

"Hey, stupid!" I yelled at him, wanting to get his attention.

To my surprise, Savage Animo didn't even react to me yelling at him. So I turned to a ruined row of wooden chairs and picked it up with all four of my hands. I threw it at him and smashed into several pieces upon impact.

"Tag you're it!" I exclaimed at him, as I blew raspberry at him.

He looked at me, as his growls of anger grew louder. He backed up, probably getting ready to charge towards me.

"Look, I'd really love to stay and chat, but I gotta go!" I exclaimed, as I turned around and leapt out of the ruined theater.

I landed down on another rooftop and looked around for Kevin and the rest of the team. I looked around for a few seconds, before I spotted them in the distance. After I saw where they were at, I leapt in that direction. Once I had leaped to the next building, I looked behind me to see if Savage Animo was following.

He was in the middle of leaping across to another building, just a building or two behind me. He was pretty close, so I picked up my pace. I leapt to another rooftop, with Savage Animo still on my tail. Eventually, Kevin and the rest of my team ahead of me dropped down to street level, so I did the same, landing right behind them.

"Why are we stopping here?" I asked Kevin, as I ran to catch up with him.

"Because this is where we can do it!" he said, as I noticed that we were approaching a park.

"Where we can do what?!" I asked with confusion, as I heard Savage Animo land a few feet behind us.

"Where we can put him to sleep!" Kevin said, as we ran into the park.

"But I thought Lucky Girl was joking when she suggested that?" I asked.

"I was!" Lucky Girl exclaimed.

"Then why are you being serious about this Kevin?" I asked. "We can't put him to sleep!"

"Yes, we can!" Kevin said. "I know how to do it!"

"But how can we-"

"Everyone just shut up!" Albedo exclaimed.

Everyone shut their mouths after that. A few seconds later, we came to a pond, which was several feet deep, at least ten now that I think about it. Just then, the hourglass symbol began to flash red and I reverted back to my human form.

 _Worse. Timing. Ever!_

Next, Savage Animo landed only a few feet away from us, just radiating anger. He stalked closer to us, growling with rage.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" I asked with worry, as I backed up away from him.

"I need you to get him into the pond." Was all that Kevin said.

"Why?! How is that going to help?!" I asked with worry.

"Just do it, Tennyson!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Fine!" I said, as the Omnitrix turned green, much to my surprise. "Albedo, you want to help me?"

"Sure thing, dude!" he said, as he moved towards Savage Animo as Dark Fourarms.

I dialed up the Omnitrix and was going to transform into Fourarms myself, when something surprising happened. When I pushed down the ring onto Fourarms' silhouette, all I got was the time out sequence. That confused the crap out of me.

"Um, go mighty Omnitrix power?" I asked with confusion, as I slammed down on the ring again.

I got the same results. Nothing changed.

"Come on, you stupid!" I exclaimed, as I slammed down on the ring again, getting the same response.

"Just pick another alien, come on!" Kevin said. "We don't have all day!"

I let out a growl of anger as I move the ring clockwise until I found Diamondhead's silhouette. I slammed down on the ring and this time I actually transformed.

 _What was that all about?_

I ran over to Albedo to assist him with getting Savage Animo into the water. I began to hit Savage Animo like Albedo was doing.

"Get behind him!" Albedo exclaimed. "We'll get this done faster that way!"

I complied and ran around Savage Animo, until I was facing his back. I unleashed a barrage of diamond shards into his back, causing him to scream with rage. He turned around and started to swipe at me, while Albedo wrapped all four of his arms around Savage Animo's waist.

"What do I do now?" I asked.

"Hit him!" Albedo yelled with impatience. "Fuck!"

I did what I was told and started hitting Savage Animo in the chest with all of the force I could muster. As surprising as it may sound, me hitting Savage Animo was actually sending him backwards! Sure, I was sending Albedo sliding backwards on his feet as well, but I guess we were getting work done?

As I kept hitting Savage Animo, Albedo began to slide into the pond, feet first.

"Okay, we're getting there!" he exclaimed. "We're getting there!"

"Can you try to flip him over and submerge him under the water?" Kevin asked.

"I guess we'll find out!" Albedo exclaimed.

I backed up, as slowly but surely, Albedo picked up Savage Animo and flipped him over his shoulders. Savage Animo fell front first into the water and that's when Kevin's plan became apparent to me. One of Kevin's heads changed colors, until it was light blue. Next, the head began taking shape, until it resembled the head of an iguana.

The iguana's mouth opened and a jet stream of freezing cold winter air came out and it slowly began to freeze the water that was lapping at the pond's banks. My eyes widened.

"Oh, I see what you're doing now." I said.

Unfortunately, that's as far as Kevin's plan went. Animo burst from the pond's depths, opened his mouth and attempted to spray Kevin with his fire breath. However, Kevin was able to counteract the fire breath, so that the two beams of fire and ice met in the middle and began fighting for control, like you see in certain movies.

Like in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where Harry and Voldemort dual, where their wands' energy tries to overcome the other's energy? That's what it looked like to me.

"Albedo, when I say so, get ready to submerge him again!" Kevin's normal head yelled.

"You got it!" Albedo exclaimed.

A minute or so later and Savage Animo's fire breath was fairing very well. Kevin's icy breath was getting closer to Savage Animo's mouth, and the amount of fire breath that Savage Animo was letting out was getting less and less.

"Now!" Kevin exclaimed.

Albedo jumped up into the air and seconds later came back down and impacted Savage Animo in the upper torso, sending him back underwater.

"Get out of the way!" Kevin commanded.

Albedo jumped out of the way, as I saw Kevin grow an extra head, which matched the iguana's head. And after that, his normal head changed to match both of the alien heads. Kevin then leapt to the edge of the pond and I saw all three heads open. And from all three mouths came beams of icy winter air.

Kevin began to freeze the pond water, until a minute later; the entire pond was completely frozen over. Savage Animo was frozen in a block of ice; put to sleep. We had done it, we had defeated one of the foes that I thought couldn't be defeated.

"We did it! Hell yeah, brother!" Albedo exclaimed, as he slapped me on the back.

"Ow! Hey, come on man!" I said, as I shrugged my shoulders. "Hit me lighter than that next time, will ya?"

"Sorry." He said, as I transformed back to my human form, as he did the same.

"Now wait a second, that won't hold Savage Animo for long, will it?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Sunny asked.

"Well, think about it. It's the middle of summer. It's a billion freaking degrees outside." I said. "Won't he just thaw out soon?"

"No he won't!" Kevin said. "S.E.C.T. has their eyes on everything! They'll be here and have Animo contained before he can even think about busting out!"

Lucky Girl looked at me.

"He has a point." She said.

"Does he?" I asked.

"Hey, I think we made a pretty good team!" Albedo said out of nowhere.

"So did I!" Lucky Girl exclaimed, as she smiled.

Sunny nodded next to Lucky Girl.

"I agree." She said. "And even as a former bloodthirsty, merciless assassin, I could _definitely_ get used to this!"

"So, are we a team then?" Lucky Girl asked.

Sunny put out her hand.

"It certainly looks that way, doesn't it?" she asked. "I'll be your teammate, sister."

"There's that word again! "Sister"." I said. "I don't like it!"

"Get used it, Tennyson! I'm here to stay!" Sunny said. "We're going to live together. I'm not asking you to be nice to me, because if you want to me sour towards me _still_ , that's fine. I'll be just as mean to you! But if you want to be friendly with me, then I'll return the favor. That's how a team should work."

She looked back at Lucky Girl, as she placed her hand on Sunny's hand. They both looked at Albedo and I.

"Are you going to join the team, Albedo?" Lucky Girl asked.

"How about you, Ben?" she asked.

 _Jesus, someone tell these people not to say the real names!_

Albedo shrugged.

"That's something I could get behind!" he exclaimed, as he moved forward and placed his hand on theirs.

They all looked at me. Lucky Girl looked at me with pleading eyes.

"There's a spot here for you on the team." Sunny said. "That is, if you want it."

I looked at all of them.

"How about it, partner?" Lucky Girl asked.

That word made me stop what I was doing. I just stopped completely. All of my thoughts ceased. Eventually, I recovered over the shock that the word left me with.

 _Partners. Huh. I remember when Gwen fist proposed the idea to me, of being partners and this was way before she knew who Alien Guy was under the mask. I remember saying something like: "A partnership? You're joking." But now that I think about it, I think that I would love a partnership._

 _There are going to be foes that I won't be able to take down by myself. And a partnership with these people, these extraordinary, normal, everyday people, may be just what I need. Partners. Huh._

Slowly but surely, a small smile began to form on my face. I mean no one saw it, since I was wearing my mask, but it was there. I let out a quick breath of uncertainty. I walked up to them and put my hand on their hands.

"Partners." I said in a sure tone.

Lucky Girl smiled at me.

"That's my boy." She said.

"Actually, it's _my girl_." I said, teasing her. "You're _my girl._ I'm not your boy."

"You wish." She said.

"So, what's our team name?" Albedo asked.

We all looked at each other.

"How about the Fantastic Four?" Lucky Girl asked.

"Um, that's a Marvel Comics Superhero Team Name?" I said. "I won't have it."

"I agree." Sunny said. "Besides, I prefer the Fearsome Four."

Albedo sighed.

"It's too aggressive." He said.

"I agree. Who says we need a team name, anyway?" I asked. "Why can't we not have a team name? Why can't we just be "the team"?"

They all looked at each other.

"I can live with that." Lucky Girl said.

"What's with all this "Four" stuff?" Albedo asked. "Why can't it be "Five"? I mean, isn't Kevin part of the team?"

He brought up a good point. Although to me, I was just interested in Kevin, not the whole Four Vs Five stuff. I took my hand off of their hands and turned to Kevin.

"Speaking of Kevin." I said, as I walked towards him.

"Well, it looks like my work here is done!" Kevin said, as he turned and leapt away from us.

"Yeah, you're work is done! But I'm not through with you yet!" I exclaimed. "Get back here!"

Just then, the Omnitrix turned green. I dialed it up and switched it to Stinkfly's silhouette, as Gwen ran up to me. I pressed down on the ring and transformed.

"Hop on! We're going after him!" I said, as I turned to look at her.

She nodded and quickly climbed onto my back. Before I took off, I heard her speak to Sunny and Albedo.

"You guys catch up with us as soon as you can!" she said.

"Yes, mom!" Albedo exclaimed.

I took off and began to pursue Kevin. We flew for several minutes, before Kevin stopped on the roof of a tall building.

"There! Set us down there!" Lucky Girl exclaimed.

"No duh!" I said, as I began to fly down towards the roof.

Once we were on the roof, Lucky Girl got off of my back and took off her belt and mask, setting them down on the roof. I began to wobble over to Kevin.

"Kevin!" I exclaimed with annoyance.

He turned around to face me.

"Ben, fancy meeting you here!" he exclaimed.

Just then, the hourglass symbol began to flash. A few seconds later, I reverted back to my human form.

 _Huh. I guess since I've been transforming so much, it's battery doesn't last very long._

"Don't give me any of that "fancy meeting you here" bullshit!" I exclaimed. "Do you even know how much trouble you're in?!"

"What did I do?" Kevin asked with uncertainty.

"You transformed! When I specifically told you not to!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, come on Ben!" he said. "We wouldn't have won if I hadn't transformed!"

"Okay, maybe you're right! But I think we could have survived without you doing that!" I exclaimed. "I think that we could have survived long enough for S.E.C.T. to arrive and take over the situation! You're not supposed to transform, Kevin! You are addicted to the Omnitrix's energy, as well as the transformations! We have to get you off of that addiction and we can't do that if you disobey us!"

"All I hear is blah, blah, blah, I disobeyed you, blah, blah, blah." He said.

"Well, you did disobey me!" I exclaimed.

"That's just you." Kevin said.

"No it's not! It's… God Damn it!" I exclaimed. "I can't talk to you like this, transform back to your human self so we can talk like normal people!"

"Okay, okay! Whatever!" he said, as he closed his eyes, beginning to concentrate.

Eventually, he began to shrink and lose his many different alien body parts, until he was human again. And as soon as he was human, he fell over.

"Oh, Jesus!" he exclaimed as he went down.

Gwen and I looked at each other. He wasn't fooling me with is dramatic routine.

"Come on, Kevin." I said. "Get up."

"I can't." he said.

"Get up!" I shouted.

"No seriously, I can't!" he said in a hoarse voice.

"Ben, look!" Gwen said, as she pointed at Kevin.

I looked at where she was pointing and I saw it. Kevin's skin was a sickly pale color. Not only that, he looked a little thinner. He looked like he had terminal cancer or something. He looked like he was dying!

 _Wait, dying? Oh, shit._

I ran over to him, as I pulled off my mask and threw it to the rooftop floor. I grabbed one of his hands.

"Gwen, come help me!" I exclaimed.

She ran over to me and grabbed his other hand.

"Come on, Kevin." I said. "We're getting you to a hospital!"

We did manage to pick him up, but as soon as he tried to walk, even with us holding him he fell back over, bringing us down with him. Once we were down, I noticed how labored his breathing was. It was as if his lung were struggling just to get him to breathe!

"Oh shit. I don't feel so good." Kevin said.

"You don't _look_ so good." Gwen said.

"Come on," I said, as I tried to pick him back up. "Let's try this again."

"No, give me just a minute." Kevin said. "Give me just a minute or two to breathe."

"No, I won't lose like this!" I said, as I tried to pick him up still.

"Just a minute or two." He repeated.

Gwen tapped my shoulder. I looked at her and she shook her head at me. Her eyes sent me a message:

 _Don't even try._

"Okay. Okay. We'll give you a minute or two." I said.

"Thank you." Kevin said. "Thank you."

A few minutes passed and we were still sitting there, while Kevin laid on his back.

"I don't know how long I can go, man." Kevin said, as he continued laying there, with Gwen and I holding both of his hands.

"Kevin, don't say that." I said. "You'll make it out of this. I swear. I've been a terrible friend Kevin. I just hope we can be friends again after this."

"Ben, you're my best friend. My best." he said, as he laid there, looking up at me. "I love you like a brother, man."

"So do I." I said, as I held his hand tighter. "We'll get you out of this."

"Ben, Ben-" Kevin began to speak, but he never finished.

His hand went slack in mine.

 _No. No, no, no. No!_

"Kevin." I said, as I slapped his hand.

No response.

"Kevin!" I exclaimed, as I began to shake him by the shoulders. "Kevin! Kevin!"

I was wailing his name now, as tears began to stream down my cheeks. Gwen grabbed hold of me and pulled me back.

"It's okay, Ben! We won't let it end here! We'll get Grandpa Max!" she exclaimed. "Kevin'll be okay, I promise! We'll bring him back!"

It didn't matter. As Gwen tried to pull me away from Kevin, I would cry more that day than I have ever cried in my entire life.

 _At the beginning of this thing, when I was just a teenager sitting on my couch waiting for Mom to give me the news that they were going to Vegas without me, I told you that this was a story about… and then I cut myself off._

 _I said that you'd just have to listen or read to find out what this story was about. Well, now you know. Now you know what this story was about. This story was about how my best friend died._

 _Author's Note:_

* And that's it for the end of this Volume! I hope you guys enjoyed the entirety of the last chapter, as well as Volume One as a whole. It may take me a bit to be ready to start releasing Volume Two, but it'll come eventually.

* And now the main question: Do you think that Kevin is actually dead? Or am I pulling all of your legs? It's up to you. He's either dead or he's not. What do you think the answer is?

* Speaking of Kevin, a few of the alien forms and abilities of aliens he used were: Spitter, Buzzshock, Arctiguana, Blitzwolfer and Upchuck, just to name a few. What did you think of how Kevin uses his final form?

* Also, about the beginning of the chapter... Yes, Sunny and Albedo are in that kind of relationship. And about what Sunny did to Albedo, well, she's a darker, slightly more twisted version of Gwen, so it shouldn't surprise you that she did that. I hope that you guys enjoyed their interactions at the beginning of the chapter.

* Here's an idea that I came up with: When Ben uses the Omnitrix, it won't let him transform into an alien he just used. What do you guys think? Is that a good system for the Omnitrix?

* What did you think of how they defeated Savage Animo? Or how they trapped him rather? Did you like how they froze him underneath the water of a pond?

* Well, that's going to do it for me. I hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter, as well as the Volume. Be on the lookout for Volume Two, it'll be here before you know it! And don't forget, tomorrow I'll release the first chapter of the Gwen 10 spin-off story! Anyway, I'm going to go though so have a great day and bye!

 _ **Review Responses**_

 _Daniel6: Nice to know that Ken got his processor out of his aft. A little bit. And was this Kevin's plan all along? To gain even more power?_

I'm not sure what you mean by "processor". And what's "aft"? Could that stand for "alien family tree"? And no, it wasn't Kevin's plan all along. He never had a plan. He was being honest when he said he wanted to right his wrongs. So no, he doesn't want more power. Thanks for the feedback!

 _Sishen123: I saw the Ben vs. Ken part coming. But the part that shocked me was that ken knew about their grandmother before ben and gwen. But i have to ask are you going the way of watch boy and lucky girl about their grandmother?_

Thanks for the feedback Sishen/Justin. Do you want me to call you Sishen or Justin when I reply to your review in these responses? Do you have a preference or is it whatever for you? Why does he know about Verdona but they don't? Ken is the oldest sibling out of the three. Not to say that they're all siblings, but you know what I mean.

Why does he know about Verdona but they don't? Well, that will be explained in Volume Two. I promise that it will. Am I taking the Watch Boy and Lucky Girl route? Like, is Verdona in this story going to be living in a mansion and eventually be helping Gwen with her powers? No.

In fact, Verdona may or may not ever show up in the story, except for a few rare occasions. I already said that I'm not sure if I wanted to create a backstory for Verdona and the Anodites and that hasn't changed. Thanks for the feedback!

 _jasongd: And another great chapter congrats BWEN Forever_

Thanks jasongd, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope that you're excited for Gwen 10, as well as Volume Two!

Coming In Volume Two: Ben must overcome his greatest loss yet. As Ben and Gwen's family get used to Sunny and Albedo living with Ben, they prepare for a new arrival to the family. And in the wake of all of this, Ben must face an enemy that is now rising in power: The Forever Knights.


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